Unmasked
by Lady Oichi
Summary: "Here's your warning: I'm taking your treasure." That was the note someone left Tsukasa one night. But why would anyone want HER treasure? More importantly, what WAS her treasure? Tsukasa/Kairi Sakuya/Umika Keiichiro/Mana UPDATE: I finally put up Chapter 11!
1. Here's Your Warning:

**I actually thought of this awhile back, but didn't get a chance to put it to paper until now.**

**Here's your warning: Watch up to Episode 45 first before reading this. There's one teeny tiny spoiler that somewhat moves the plot towards the ending of the story. **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own or work for Toei, I just wrote the story**

* * *

_**HERE'S YOUR WARNING**_

* * *

"Mou, Keiichiro-sempai you really should call her." Sakuya told the man in red as they were leaving the Jurer Bistro.

Umika and Tsukasa stopped their brief chatter to listen to how he would respond to Sakuya's advice. Hopefully it would not go in vain.

Keiichiro wrapped his coat around him tighter as a gust of wind blew past them. "Iie, she's probably busy right now. I'll just text her later." He said, speaking of Mana in mind.

Umika growled at him. "Dame!" She said brushing past him with her hands on her hips. "A phone call is much more meaningful." Her expression changed as she waved his phone in front of him.

"What the-" He reached down into is coat pocket. "How did you get-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Umika was already dialing something on his phone with glee.

"Ah, moshimoshi." Umika said into the phone. Keiichiro instantly reached for the device, but she twirled around him and continued speaking to whoever it was on the other end. Each time he would reach for his phone Umika would dodge him with swift movements and lightning fast speed.

'How is she doing this?' Keiichiro thought to himself. Of course, he wasn't the only who thought that; Tsukasa was thinking the exact same thing. Sakuya was too entranced with Umika to care less.

After a minute of talking on the phone, Umika handed it back to him. "It's for you." She said cheerfully.

Keiichiro snatched his phone back. "Moshimoshi." He said into the receiver. "Ah, Mana-san." He said getting flustered walking away from the group.

Tsukasa and Sakuya were grinning behind him. Before they followed him down the street, they bid Umika goodnight as she locked the bistro for the night.

* * *

As soon as Tsukasa got home, the first thing she wanted to do was shower. Shrugging out of her coat and suit jacket, she began to run the water in her bathroom.

She ran into her bedroom and pulled out a set of matching pajamas and under garments before going back and enjoying the warmth from the water.

Even though it was nearly February, the air was still chilly, and she decided to stay under her shower head a little longer, but not enough to start pruning.

As she toweled off her hair, Tsukasa noticed her window slightly open. Suspicious, she crept over and peaked outside; not a single person in sight. And even though she was on the third floor, it didn't delude her from thinking someone could have broken in.

Tsukasa locked the widow and drew the drapes. Grabbing her VS changer, she snuck around her apartment, checking every nook and cranny to make sure nothing was out of place or that there was a sign of another person in her personal space. It took her awhile, but in the end she found nothing. She gave a sigh of relief and headed for her room. She placed her changer on her dresser and was just about to jump on her bed to cuddle with all of her stuffed animals when something caught her eye. Something red was sticking out from underneath her pencil case on her dresser. Carefully she picked it from its hiding spot to examine it. She recognized it immediately as one of the cards the Lupinrangers used to fling at the Ganglers.

She turned it over to read the note. Although it was read with no malicious intent, she was still bothered by the message on it;

Here's your warning:

I'm taking your treasure

* * *

**Author's Note: It's so short, I know. I've never written multiple chapters before, most of my work is One Shots. **

**Let me know what you guys think of the first part. And more importantly, who sent that to her ;)**


	2. Friend or Foe?

**Sorry Chapter 2 took so long. I'm actually writing this story chapter by chapter. Like I have an idea already of how this story is going to flow, but I just have to write it down before I forget everything. Anyway,**

**Here's your warning: Part of Episode 13, and the ending of Episode 43 leading into Episode 44 are briefly mentioned in this chapter. I suggest watching them first before reading this. If you have, then by all means...read away :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't work for Toei or own the company. I just wrote the story**

* * *

_**FRIEND OR FOE?**_

* * *

_The Next Day..._

Noel was sitting in the GSPO office reading the newspaper, waiting for the others to arrive. For once, he was actually earlier than everyone else. One would say that was suspicious, but in actuality, he was just trying to read up on any stories in the paper that seemed to have a hint of a Gangler. He grabbed the warm mug that was sitting on the table and took a long drink before getting back to his task.

'Let's see' He thought to himself. 'Car accidents? Nope. Burning building? Almost. Bank robbery? No dice. Wild bar fights? Try again. Red card- Huh?'

Noel looked up to see Tsukasa standing over him with a frown on her face.

"Very funny." She said pushing the card into his paper.

"I'm sure it would be it you would tell me the punch line." He said picking up the card. "Hmm 'Here's your warning…' Oh I get it." He turned to her with a smile. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Thank you for this." He motioned toward the card.

Tsukasa immediately took it back from him. "This isn't funny!" She snapped. "How did you get into my room? And why did you leave me this?"

Realization finally hit him. "Wait, you think **_I_ **sent this to you?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying!"

He inhaled deeply. "Well then, I will be very happy to disappoint you, because I didn't send that."

"Oh come on, be serious-"

"I am being…" Noel said sincerely, touching his heart. "Why would I ever send one of these to you? Not to mention," He held the card between his index and middle finger. "When have you ever seen me send one of these before? Maybe once to the Lupinrangers, but that's it."

He did have a point there. "But if it wasn't you, then which one of the Lupinrangers did it?"

"I'm not sure." He said honestly. "But I don't think it was any of them either."

"But then who?" She asked in distress. "It has to be one of you four. You're the only ones who would are actually capable of something like this."

Tsukasa sat down across from him on the opposite futon. Normally she could keep her composure. But today, Noel noted, the whole "card thing" seemed to be throwing her off. She ran a hand through her hair before resting her cheek on her knuckles.

Noel reached out and put his hand over hers. "I will go and talk to them, and see if it really was any of them who sent this to you."

She looked up at him. "And if it was one of them?"

"Then I will handle it." He promised. "But I really don't think it was one of them. They're after the Lupin Collection, not a person's prized possessions." He looked down at the table before speaking again. "You don't…have a Collection piece…do you?"

She looked at him incredulously. "No of course not." She said softly. "As valuable as they may be, they're also dangerous to have around without proper security."

"Fair enough." Noel smiled, giving her hand an assuring squeeze. "Now," He stood up and stretched. "Would you like to go to Jurer with me?"

Tsukasa shot him a confused look. "We just got in, Keiichiro and Sakuya will be here any minute. Why would you want to go now?"

"Well for one: my coffee is cold." He said showcasing his mug with his palm. "And two: I'm not a fan of microwaved coffee."

Again, she looked at him incredulously. "Seriously?" He just stood there with a grin on his face. Tsukasa looked down at her watch. "I have a meeting in an hour."

"We shall be back by then." He said holding out his hand to her. "So, do I take that a yes?"

* * *

At said Bistrot Jurer, Kairi began wiping down the tables from dust that may have collected overnight. Touma was checking the burners to make sure they were working properly.

"So," Umika said bringing in a new package of napkins to refill. "I don't want any slacking off today, **_Kairi_**." She said staring at him.

"Yeah yeah." He said paying her no mind.

"And no grouchy faces either." She added.

"I didn't have a grouchy face yesterday!" He defended.

"I was talking to Touma."

Touma didn't say anything; he just continued inspecting the rest of the kitchen.

"And what about you? Stop giving customers special treatment." He scolded.

"I don't give customers special treatment."

"What about those business men who came in during the lunch hour?" Touma pointed out.

"I don't give **_all_** customers special treatment."

"Heh, I bet you don't." Kairi said wiping the counter down. "Sakuya might die in his sleep if he found out you were flirting with those guys yesterday."

"I was not flirting!" She put her hands on her hips. "I was…hoping they would have spent a little more with good customer service."

"Yeah, all that effort and they didn't even order a darn thing." He threw his rag into a nearby hamper. "Sheesh."

The three of them heard the bell above the door chime.

"Ah, sumimasen, we're actually not op-"

"Bonjour, and good morning." Noel greeted making his grand entrance. Tsukasa shuffled in behind him.

"N-Noel-san." Umika said surprised. "What are you doing here so early?"

"I'm here for my morning cup of coffee." He answered. "And what better place to get one than here?"

"Yeah, even better since we're haven't opened yet and you're the only one here." Kairi said sarcastically leaning over the short wall by the kitchen.

"Oui, I knew you would understand." He said cheekily.

He sat himself down at one of the tables, with Tsukasa sitting across from him.

Umika came back with his coffee and turned to Tsukasa. "Can I get you anything Tsukasa-san?"

Tsukasa had her elbow on the table, her head resting in her palm. Her mind had wandered so far that she didn't hear a word anyone was saying until Umika waved a hand in front of her face.

"Yoo hoo, earth to Tsukasa-san." She tried again.

"Huh? Oh gomenasai Umika-chan. I'm fine thank you." She said trying to play if off.

"_Sure_ you're fine." She said touching her shoulder. "What's going on?"

Tsukasa interlocked her fingers together, rubbing her thumbs back and forth. "It's just…" The other two Lupinrangers looked over in her direction. "Nothing really. Just some…stuff going on, that's all." She replied trying to smile.

"Some stuff?" Umika's eyes became wide. "Wait a minute! Is it a man?!" She asked getting in her face.

Kairi's ears perked up at that.

"Huh? No, it's not like that." She waved it off. "Well, I mean I guess you could say it is, sort of. But at the same time…it isn't…" She tried to explain.

Two of the bistrot's residents looked at her with blank expressions. Kairi stared at her somewhat attentively.

Tsukasa looked over at the clock on the wall. "Oh no, my meeting!" She got up abruptly and bowed. "I'm so sorry, I have to go!" She quickly sprinted out the door, leaving a room full of confused thieves.

For a moment they watched the door, seeing if anything else was about to happen.

"Well that was…interesting…." Umika said tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah, very un-Tsukasa-like." Kairi grabbed the chair next to Noel and spun it around. He sat down and leaned his arms on the back rest. "So you wanna fill us in on what's really going on?"

Noel reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the card. "Look familiar?" He handed the card to Kairi who took a closer look at it. The other two looked over his shoulder doing the same.

Umika looked up at him. "It looks just like the one we give to the Ganglers."

"Yes, good to know." Noel said blowing into his drink. "But what I mean is did any of you send that to Tsukasa last night?"

"What? No. Why do you think we would send this to Tsukasa-san?" Kairi asked.

"I don't, but Tsukasa thinks one of you did."

"Impossible. We only send it to the Ganglers for their Collection pieces." Umika said.

"And that's exactly what I told her." He began to drink his coffee.

"Do you know if she has a collection piece?" Touma asked.

"I did ask her, but she said she didn't have any. And to be honest, I believe her."

"Is this why she was acting so strange this morning?" Umika inquired.

"Oui, that's exactly why."

Touma made a noise of disbelief. "I'm surprised that she would get so worked up over one card." He plucked it from Kairi's hand. "She fights Ganglers, and us." He added. "But one little note like this and she freaks out."

Umika kept to herself about the whole thing with Tsukasa and haunted houses.

"I don't think that's why she freaked out." He put down his drink. "Being on the front lines, so to speak, is one thing. When you're in the one place where you feel safest, and it's invaded by someone willing to cause harm, and take what you love most…then…that's when it becomes an issue…"

The Lupinrangers looked at each other, then back at Noel. They knew he was speaking from experience.

"That's true…" Kairi agreed crossing his arms.

Noel looked to the three of them. "Will you help me figure out who's responsible for this?"

Kairi turned with a raised eyebrow. "Did you really need to ask?"

Their X member laughed. "I guess not." He said getting up from the table.

"Yoosh, we'll find this impostor and make him pay for trying to impersonate a real Phantom Thief." Umika said determined. Touma nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, and to help Tsukasa-san too." Kairi added putting the chair back in its proper position. He handed the card back to Noel.

"We'll talk about this later." He stuffed it back into his pocket. "But for now…it looks like you guys are about to have a morning rush." He said peeking outside the window.

* * *

**Author's Note: Well this one was a little longer, hopefully better too lol. I just realized that I had to bump this story's rating from K+ to T because it will get darker later on.**

**I would love to hear your thoughts on the chapter, as well as my writing. I would love to know how I could be a better writer.**


	3. What Is Your treasure?

**Sorry guys if I'm taking so long. I wasn't sure if anyone was actually interested. I mean I see that people are viewing the story, but it's hard to tell if they're actually enjoying it. By the way, thank you to those who have been reviewing the story so far. It really makes me happy to see reviews and feedback :)**

**Here's your warning: Let's see, other than the fact that Shinta Yanagami was seen in Episode 19, there isn't really any spoilers**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own or work for Toei, I just wrote the story**

* * *

_**WHAT IS YOUR TREASURE?**_

* * *

Tsukasa came out of her meeting even more distressed than before. Not only did she have to figure out who was toying with her, but the team was also being grilled by the higher ups, mainly senior official Shinta Yanagami.

As she was walking through the lobby, she accidentally bumped into someone. "Ah, gomenasai." She said glancing up. "Eh? Noel?"

"What? Oh hey there." He said rubbing the back of his head. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you about tha-"

"Shh, not so loud!" She hissed covering his mouth.

"Huh? Oh, good morning Noel-san."

They both turned to see Sakuya and Keiichiro walking towards them. Tsukasa quickly removed her hand from his face.

"Good morning to you two as well." He told them. "How was your meeting?"

"Ehh, not so good actually." Sakuya told him scratching his head. "That senior official can be pretty brutal sometimes."

The man in white chuckled at his comment. "So I've heard." He readjusted his jacket when something caught Sakuya's eye.

"Hmm? Noel-san what happened to your neck?"

The other two turned to see what he was talking about; on the left side of his neck, just above the collar bone, was a thick piece of white gauze, covered by transparent medical tape to hold it in place.

"Oh this?" He pressed his fingers to the gauze. "I'm embarrassed to say this, but it's actually from my hair straightener." He admitted. "I got a little carried away this morning." He shifted his collar to hide it from view.

"Ohh." Sakuya nodded in understanding. "Is that really it? Or did you happen to come across a cute girl last night?" He asked in a teasing manner.

"Well, if you really must know…" He played along whispering to the young man. "I actually did meet this girl last night, and I-"

"Can we please stop with this nonsense?!" Tsukasa said shoving her way in between the two womanizers.

The red and green Patrangers noticed how unpleasant her attitude was; even when she was scolding them habitually, her tone was never this harsh.

Keiichiro stepped in to defuse the situation. "We've got a lot of paperwork to take care of. Not to mention we need to be on high alert in case a Gangler _**does**_ decide to attack the city."

"Sorry Keiichiro-sempai, Tsukasa-sempai." He apologized. Sakuya turned to the other man. "We'll see you around."

"Noel, before I forget, could you meet me in the cafeteria around noon?" Tsukasa asked him.

"Sure." He promised.

He watched the three of them walk in the opposite direction before heading off to take care of his own business.

As they got in the elevator, Sakuya peeked over at his female superior. "You okay, sempai?"

She shut her eyes and counted to three before opening them. "I'm fine." She lied. "Just fine…" They didn't press her any further as the elevator doors closed.

* * *

Around noon, Tsukasa waited in the cafeteria at an empty table near the window. She began to rub her hands nervously when she glanced up and saw Noel approaching her table.

"Sorry I'm late." He said sitting down. "Sakuya told me that you wanted to meet with me."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You had to be reminded by Sakuya to do something?"

He shrugged in response. "There's a first time for everything."

"Like getting burned by a hair straightener?" She mumbled.

"Pardon?"

"Never mind." She shook her head at him. "Listen…" She lowered her voice. "That…thing from this morning," He began to take the card out from his pocket when she stopped him from doing so. "Could you keep this a secret, just between you and me? And I guess the Lupinrangers." She included. "Don't say anything to Keiichiro or Sakuya."

Noel's face showed concern. "Why not?" He wondered. "They're your teammates. Don't you trust them enough to go to them for help?"

"It's not that I don't trust them." She replied. "It's just nothing for them to be worrying about at the moment. We have a lot on our plate right now dealing with Ganglers. I just don't want to add my problems on top of that."

He contemplated the idea. "Even if there was a possibility that this is somehow Gangler related?"

"We don't _**know**_ that it is Gangler related-"

"But we don't know that it _**isn't**_." He argued.

Tsukasa folded her arms, leaning into the table.

"Listen," He whispered trying not to reheat their argument. "What's the worst that could happen if Keiichiro and Sakuya knew about this?" She remained silent, so he continued. "Is it really the warning that's been bothering you…or is it something else?"

"There is that, among other things..." She admitted.

His expression softened for her. "Tell me."

Tsukasa took a deep breath to clear her head. "It's the thought of someone else knowing what my treasure is, it's scary. The fact that one minute it's there, and, in a split second…" She snapped her fingers to get her point across. "It could be gone in a flash…"

Inwardly he laughed; her snap was just as good as the Lupinrangers.

"Actually, now that I think about it, you never told me what your treasure was."

"It's…complicated."

"Tsukasa, I can't help you protect it if I don't even know what _**it**_ is." She began to rub her shoulders and biceps nervously. "Could you a least give me some sort of clue as to what it is?"

"Noel-"

"Would you like to know mine?"

Her head shot up when he asked that. Would he seriously tell her his secret? Noel gave her a small smile. "I'll tell you what my treasure is, if you tell me yours."

Tsukasa considered his proposal. At the very least, this would give her an insight as to what the Lupinrangers were really after. She was just about to give him a verbal response when they were interrupted.

"Noel-san, Tsukasa-sempai!"

Sakuya came running in towards their table.

"What is it? Is it a Gangler?" He asked for the both of them.

"Iie, nothing like that." He clarified. "It's Commander Hilltop; he wants to see us upstairs."

* * *

"I apologize for calling you all so suddenly." Hilltop addressed them. "But as you know, it's been quite some time since we've had any reports of any Gangler related incidences."

"Do you want us to go out and investigate?" Keiichiro asked.

"No no, I was just stating the facts." He said getting up from his desk. "Actually, this just came in from the higher ups. It involves every single person who works for the GSPO." Hilltop walked around to the front and handed each one of them an envelope. "Everyone is to report in at this time and date." He handed the last one to Tsukasa. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Jim and I have another meeting to attend to." Hilltop's face became grim.

His subordinates became increasingly concerned. "Is it…senior officer Yanagami, sir?" Sakuya asked.

"Ohh no, even worse than that." He called back. Jim made a whimpering noise as the door closed behind them.

"Even worse than Yanagami." Noel thought out loud. "I didn't think there was anything worse than that."

"Yeah, even when he chewed me out I thought I was going to wet myself." Sakuya admitted. He opened his envelope and read what was inside. "EHHHH?!"

The other three jumped at his outcry.

"Doshita?" Keiichiro asked. His jaw dropped when he too read what was inside.

Sakuya wanted to cry. "I-I can't believe it!" His voice became cheery. "I'll be right back. I need to call Umika-chan right away!" He rushed out the door, but reeled around and grabbed Keiichiro by the arm. "Keiichiro-sempai you come too!"

"Eh? Nani?!"

Noel and Tsukasa watched them also disappear behind the door. She turned to her colleague. "Do you think that…they received warning messages as well?"

"Highly unlikely." He replied. They glanced at each other before deciding to open their envelopes at the same time. When they got to the bottom, their expressions were no different than the other two.

"EHHHH?!"

* * *

_THREE NIGHTS LATER..._

Tsukasa had stayed back late to finish a report she had been working on. By the time she left the office , the moon had already risen in the sky. Not many people were out this late as she made her way home. It was a good thing…and a bad thing.

"You know it's not safe to be out by yourself." She heard a voice say behind her.

Tsukasa gripped the handle of her purse, knowing full well who that voice belonged to. She whirled around pulling out her VS changer. "What are you doing here?"

The red phantom thief looked at her with a lazy smile. "Nothing special, just patrolling for Ganglers."

She huffed at his comment. "I'll bet…"

Behind the mask, Kairi made a note of how anxious she appeared, and not only because of his presence. Perhaps she had a rough day as well. He dug his hands in his pockets. "You really shouldn't be out so late." He said once more.

"And you shouldn't be breaking into people's apartments." She shot back.

"And that's another thing," He said taking a step closer. "That wasn't us."

"Liar!" She thrusted her changer forward. "You guys are after the Lupin Collection pieces!"

"We only go after _**stolen**_ Collection Pieces." He explained. "Yours was…well, pretty much handed to you. Am I right?"

She tensed up. Only Noel could have known that. It seems he was still feeding them information. "Well, the jokes on you." She told him. "Because I don't have any."

"Heh, I'll keep that in mind." He responded. Kairi started moving towards her. Tsukasa kept her guard up until he passed by. "Be careful going home."He advised walking away.

"Wait!" She called. "Why should I believe you when you say you didn't send me that warning? How do I know that it really wasn't you?"

He whipped around and angled her changer away from him. "Because _**I'm**_ a straightforward man." He replied.

Tsukasa froze at his quick movements; she didn't even have time to blink and here he was just inches away from her face.

"I don't dance around the subject like some people do. When I want something…I take it…" He whispered.

She searched his face for any hint of deceit or deception, but found none. At the same time she studied the contours of his cheeks, and how it was almost charming the way his lips curved into a smirk without even trying. And-wait what?

His smirk became wider. Kairi gently blew into her face causing her to flinch back in surprise. When she opened them again he was gone. Her eyes scanned every inch of her surroundings, but he was nowhere to be found.

She released a breath that she didn't know she was holding. Putting her VS changer away, she picked up her pace and headed home.

* * *

**Author's Note: The chapter's a little shorter than the last one. But on the plus side we're about a third of the way into the story. Yay! I actually don't know how long I want to make this, but I do know how I'm writing the ending.**

**Anyway, lemme know what you guys think about the story so far, and you think is going to happen.**

**Oh, and just what was in those envelopes...? Hmm...?**


	4. What's On Your Mind?

**I didn't think this chapter was going to take this long. I was writing this midway when all of a sudden it just stopped flowing. Like after I kept reading it over and over again it sounded so choppy. But I'm glad I worked out all the kinks. On a side note, this chapter goes into a little more detail, regarding the last one. It overlaps because this chapter is from the Lupinrangers POV. Like they say, there's two sides to every coin (or something like that lol)**

**Anyone else watched the final episode yesterday? I swear Sakuya and Umika better be married somewhere in the future. (That statement doesn't spoil anything, so you have nothing to fear)**

**Thank you for bearing with me this entire time. And thank you to those who have been leaving reviews:**

**-Toa Solaric**

**-Guest 362**

**-PrettyRecklessLaura**

**-Knoctis00**

**As my boss would always say, you guys are the bomb dot com :) Anyway,**

**Here's your warning: Unless you really wanna know who Jagaton is, I suggest watching episode 13.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own or work for Toei, I just wrote the story.**

* * *

_**WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND?**_

* * *

Kairi managed to escape a nearby rooftop without being seen. He hid up there until he was sure Tsukasa wasn't looking around for him anymore, breathing a sigh of relief.

Truth be told, he really was looking for Ganglers tonight.

It all started this afternoon when Kogure stopped by the bistro.

* * *

_**FLASHBACK…**_

"_Kogure, please tell us that you have some new information on a Gangler?" Kairi asked approaching the old man sitting at a nearby table._

"_Sad to say, but I really don't have anything for you folks at the moment." He said sipping his tea._

"_No way! Are you __**ABSOLUTELY**__, __one** HUNDRED **percent__ sure there are no Lupin Collection pieces for us to steal?" Umika knelt down beside him, holding the back of the chair for support._

"_Sorry, I would love to have a new Collection piece ready for you to steal, but I don't."_

_Kairi and Umika groaned in response._

"_Hmm? Why the sudden need for thievery?" The butler asked, his teacup clinking when he set it down._

"_Someone-or something has been impersonating us." Touma explained. "And by doing so, they're intimidating one of the GSPO officers."_

"_I see. Well, it's nothing worth getting your hands dirty over." He stood up and made for the door._

"_Wait a minute!" Kairi stopped him. "You haven't been impersonating us, have you?"_

_Kogure sighed at his accusation. "I really have no time to be messing with police officers." He stated. They waited in silence to hear what else he had to say. "But to answer your question; no, I have not been impersonating you three."_

_They all sighed in unison._

"_Then I guess we're back to square one…" Touma said glancing at the other two._

"_May I remind you," He told the young thieves. "That I specifically said not to get involved with the police. Nothing good can come out of working with them." Kairi opened his mouth to speak. "And that includes helping them." He said silencing Lupin Red._

"_Demo, Kogure-san." Umika ran up to him. "Don't you find it strange that we haven't seen a Gangler in weeks?"_

"_Or that you haven't picked up on any Collection pieces." Touma added._

"_I will admit that it is odd that nothing has come about in awhile." He told them. "However, like I said, it's nothing for you three to get your hands dirty over." Quietly exited the bistro._

"_That old geezer is as strange as ever." Kairi commented._

"_What'll we do about that imposter? And Tsukasa-san?"_

"_For now we'll let Noel deal with Tsukasa. The imposter we can handle on our own." Touma replied._

"_Yeah but how? What if they're out there right now causing mayhem? I have a reputation to uphold y'know." She affirmed in a childlike manner. "Speaking of which, any news from Noel-san?"_

"_Noel said that even the police don't understand why there are no Gangler sightings." Kairi told them. "He also said that Tsukasa-san didn't bother to tell anyone about her warning the other night. Something about not wanting to worry the others with her problems."_

"_Ohh now __**I'm**__ starting to worry!" She began to pace frantically back and forth. "Wait, you don't think Tsukasa-san was hit by Dugon Manatee's beam do you?"_

"_Impossible, we defeated him remember?"_

"_But then why? What kind of treasure does Tsukasa-san have that would cause her such worry?"_

"_You forget that the imposter knows what her treasure is." He reminded her. "It's different for us; we want to get our loved ones back. And though that's not necessarily our treasure..."_

"_The only people who know that are the ones who are trying to help us." Kairi filled in the rest. "Zamigo may know we're after him, but he doesn't know why exactly."_

_Umika hadn't really thought about that. "The three of us…all want the same thing." She stated. "I guess, it's easier not to worry about when it's something like that. But for Tsukasa-san," She took a few steps towards the GSPO's regular table. "She must feel so alone right now; not knowing who she can trust anymore, except for maybe Noel."_

"_If she even trusts him." Touma clarified._

_Right then and there, Kairi had made up his mind; he was going to help Tsukasa, even if he got in trouble with Kogure. He would have to do it in secrecy or course. No point in the others getting into trouble for his stubbornness and inability to follow simple instructions._

* * *

And that's how he ended up following Tsukasa all the way back to her apartment. Well, not exactly.

His intention was to take on a night investigation. He told the other two that he was going to retire early for the night, and went upstairs to get dressed. But just as he was about to exit the bistro, Kairi found his partners in crime standing there by the door, dressed in their Kaitou disguises as well.

"You didn't think you were the only one thinking the same thing were you?" Touma told him.

"For someone who went to get ready before us, you sure take a long time." She teased.

"Gomen." He chuckled.

They came up with a plan. From there they would split up, using what information they had from Noel to hit up every single spot the previously defeated Ganglers had favored.

As he stood atop a lamppost, something had caught his eye. Or rather…someone. Tsukasa had just come out of the GSPO building seemingly distracted; probably from the warning she received, he deduced. Kairi followed her another two blocks before he realized that there was no way she was going to make it home safely at this rate. She was so suspicious of everything _**around **_her that she couldn't see what was right in _**front**_ of her; twice she almost ran into a stop sign, and once she bumped into a well-lit vending machine.

Whatever her treasure was that was making her worry just might end up being the death of her. It was a little obsessive honestly. He had to stop her, somehow. It took a little bit of thinking, but only one thing came to mind; distraction.

Emerging from behind a pillar, he made his presence known. "You know it's not safe to be out by yourself."

Tsukasa stopped in her tracks.

That finally got her attention. She turned around aiming her changer at him. "What are you doing here?"

'_Saving your life.'_ He said to himself. _'Not to mention testing your acute awareness.' _"Nothing special, just patrolling for Ganglers."

She would go on to accuse him of being the one who sent her the warning, but he was being honest when he said it wasn't him.

After awhile, when he felt like he had gotten enough information out of her to go off of, he decided to be on his merry way. With purpose, he walked past her, to see how she would react to being near him. "Be careful going home." He finally managed to tell her.

"Wait! Why should I believe you when you say you didn't send me that warning? How do I know that it really wasn't you?"

Apparently, his distraction technique wasn't working at all if she was still going on about that damn note. He balled his hands into fists. If she didn't stop now, it was going to corrupt her.

And he wasn't about to let that happen.

Spinning around he grabbed her changer and pulled _**it**_, along with her towards him. Leaning down he looked directly into her eyes. "Because _**I'm**_ a straightforward man; I don't dance around the subject like some people do. When I want something…I take it…"

Kairi stared at her firmly. This wasn't the same Tsukasa he had come to know. Fear shown in her eyes, unsure if it was from him or not. But at the moment, he didn't care. She had to get the message; that obsessing over this wasn't okay. She needed to know that sometimes it was okay to ask for help...even _**if**_ said help came from your enemy.

As he continued to gaze at her, he realized she stopped looking into his eyes. He followed her line of sight to see what she was staring at. His lips? For a brief moment he thought he saw something else in her expression other than fear. Was it… yearning? Kairi smirked at the thought. It fed his ego, knowing how easy it was that he could affect her like that.

'_Mission accomplished.' _He thought proudly.

A sudden gust of wind picked up around them, and he took that as his cue to leave. As an added effect, he pretended to blow air into her face, distracting her momentarily so he could get away.

He waited until she was on the move again, following her from rooftop to rooftop until she made it home. From across her apartment, he continued to watch her until she disappeared inside.

"It's not nice to toy with her like that." said a voice behind him.

Kairi didn't bother to turn around as he already knew who was talking to him. The other thief moved to stand next to him.

"I saw the whole thing." Touma told him.

"_**Did**_ you now?" He responded sarcastically.

They continued watch her apartment from the outside, until Touma decided to pick his brain for some answers.

"What exactly are you planning?" He flat out asked him.

Kairi gripped the railing. Rather than say anything, he let the silence hang in the air. A second later they heard another newcomer land on the roof.

"There you guys are." Umika said exhausted. "I've been looking all over for you." She flopped her upper body over the side of the railing, but looked up when she realized where they were. "Hey, what are you guys doing here at Tsukasa-san's apartment?"

They both turned to her. "How did you know Tsukasa lives here?"

She perched herself upright. "Because, one time when I was out grocery shopping she was heading in this direction. So the next day when they came in for a meal, I asked her and she said this is where she lived."

"I see." Kairi readjusted his mask. "Did you guys find anything?"

Umika shook her head. "No signs of a Gangler. It's like they're all on vacation or something."

"Which I highly doubt."

Kairi nodded. "I think that's about all we can do for tonight. We should head back and get some shut eye...for real this time."

"I think that's a good idea." She yawned. They began to walk away but stopped when they realized Kairi wasn't following them. They turned to see him still staring at the building.

"Hmm? Red?"

He continued facing in the same direction. "Sorry guys, do you mind going on ahead without me? I think I'm going to take one last look around."

"Demo-"

Touma tugged on her arm to get her attention. She opened her mouth to speak, but he shook his head. "Wakata." He replied. "Just be careful…"

Umika didn't have a clue as to what was going on. She looked back and forth between the two men, shrugging when she knew she was never going to get a definitive answer out of either one. She aimed her grappling hook at a nearby lamppost and swung in the direction of the bistro.

Touma hung back for a little bit, deciding on whether or not to offer the younger man some advice. He ended up not saying anything and followed Umika home.

Kairi waited a few more minutes in the cold.

'_What exactly are you planning?' _Echoed Touma's voice in his head. Even if he wanted to answer that, he couldn't. Not even _**he**_ knew what he was planning. What was he gonna do? Sit there and keep watch all night? Highly unlikely. Hopping down from the roof, he made his way to her apartment.

* * *

Tsukasa readjusted the stuffed animals on her bed a second time that night before finally being content with the setup. She traced the outline of the Jagaton keychain that hung on the wall above her bed post. It was strange really, but looking at it was somehow comforting.

Her mind began to wander back to the red thief, not that this was the first time that that's happened. She had always known him to be reckless...and self-centered...and sometimes intolerable. But tonight...she thought she found him, dare she say it...attractive. That itself was a first. The more she thought about him, the more she yearned to learn of his true identity.

She replayed that moment in her head again; even though he was staring at her intensely, behind that she swore she saw his eyes soften. His light brown irises pierced through her very being. She wanted to peel his mask away, to learn who this mysterious stranger was, and what was going on in his mind right now. The very thought made her heart beat faster, and she mentally scolded herself for thinking such things. 'He's a phantom thief.' She told herself. 'It could never be. It _**should**_ never be.'

And yet, somehow the thought of him seemed to put her mind at ease. She crawled into bed and turned off her lamp. And for the first time in awhile, ever since the whole warning thing, she fell asleep within minutes, a smile gracing her face.

* * *

Kairi lingered above her window for awhile until he saw the lights go off in her apartment. Taking one last look around, and deciding that nobody else was planning to show up tonight, he bid her a silent goodnight and headed for home himself.

* * *

**Author's Note: Okay, now that I got that out of they way, we can finally move forward! I swear the chapters get longer and longer, which is a good thing since that means I'm capable of writing more.**

**By the way I was mortified when I learned what Tsukasa's image song was about. Out of all the things they could've had her sing about. Heck, even all the stuffed animals would've been better than just him. Buuuut I digress, the song is catchy lol**

**Also, when I was doing my research on certain episodes I remembered episode 11, and how the narrator didn't change Tsukasa's name because it could be for either a boy or a girl. Kairi's name is the exact same way, it could be for a boy or a girl X3 This ship flew past the moon for me lol**

**Let me know what you guys think, and what you think's going to happen next. See you around soon!**


	5. All You Need To Do Is Ask

**I love reading your reviews guys. You would have thought that some of those reviews would have intimidated me, but in actuality they motivated me ^-^**

**thank you again to those who have been leaving them, I really appreciate it:**

**-Toa Solaric**

**-Guest 362**

**-PrettyRecklessLaura**

**-Knoctis00**

**-Guest**

**Here's your warning: Um, I don't really have a warning for you today :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own or work for Toei, I just wrote the story**

* * *

_**ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS ASK**_

* * *

Tsukasa left for work earlier than usual the next day. She knew that Jurer wouldn't be open until 8am, but she texted Umika the night before and asked if she could stop by and purchase some macarons for the guys. Umika said she would make an exception for her...because they were friends.

At 7:30 she rapped on the door to see if anyone would answer.

To her surprise, and his, Kairi was the one who ended up answering. "Tsukasa-san."

"Good morning Kairi-kun." She said with a smile.

He opened the door wider to let her in. "What are you doing here so early?"

"I came by to see Umika-chan." She explained looking around. "Is she up yet?"

Kairi closed the door behind her. "Yeah, she should be down shortly."

She nodded in understanding. "Hmm, I see."

They stood there in awkward silence until he spoke up. "So…how was your night?"

"Hmm? Oh, it was…well, nice." She said thinking about last night's events. Tsukasa wandered off towards the back of the room, where vintage porcelain items decorated the space. "Up until now I actually haven't been sleeping well."

"Mm, the last time we saw you, you were drifting in and out of La La Land." He joked.

She laughed at herself. "Sorry. At the time, I was going through something." She confessed picking her nails.

"Anything I could help with?" He offered watching her from a distance.

Tsukasa shook her head at him. "I appreciate that, but don't worry about it."

Kairi gasped. "I'm surprised you would refuse my offer." He feigned hurt. "Normally I **_charge_** for my services."

"Aren't I special?" She mocked lightheartedly. "But really, I'm better now, especially since I ran into someone last night."

Kairi cast her a sidelong glance. "Who?"

Tsukasa paused for a moment. "Mm, I guess you could call it an 'acquaintance'."

He raised an eyebrow. "An acquaintance?"

She tried to figure out how she could explain their relationship. "Kind of, though not exactly."

Kairi chuckled. "Tsukasa-san you're not making sense again."

She laughed too. "Gomen. It's just that, we don't talk very often. And when we do, we never have anything nice to say." She said thinking about Lupin Red. "We tend to fight a lot."

He pretended to sound confused. "That doesn't sound like an acquaintance to me."

"But they are though, they're not a bad person."

Tsukasa had her back to him, so he couldn't read her expression.

"A lot of times, we don't see eye to eye. When I see him- er, them," She corrected herself. "They usually have their own set of problems going on."

"Like what?"

She stopped in front of a set of cookie jars. "I'm not sure. They won't tell me, but I wish I could understand what they were thinking." Her face became solemn. "There's something going on with him. And I wish I could help him with his problem. But, I'm not sure how to approach a subject like that."

Tsukasa didn't realize that she slipped up again, but he caught it. Kairi moved to stand by her side. "Everyone has their own set of problems." He explained. "Some people have a hard time accepting help." He leaned against the wall facing her. "And sometimes, it's hard for others to ask for help." He gave her a smile. "Right?"

She looked up at him. "I suppose so." Her hand slid down the wall stopping at a gap where a china vase was set. "I guess I'm the exact same." She admitted.

Kairi observed her in silence; compared to last night, she was much more at ease. Her smile had comeback-a genuine one- that he hadn't seen forever. It was pleasing to the eyes, his eyes specifically.

A lock of hair fell near the corner of her eye and he reached out to move it back.

Tsukasa happened to turn at the same time his hand hung in midair. "Huh? Nani?"

He froze.

"Uhh..." He laughed nervously. She looked at him in earnest. "It's nothing." He retracted his hand, scratching the back of his head. "So, what did they tell you?"

She pushed the strand of hair back herself. "It's not so much what they said, but rather how they acted." She ran a finger over the cold porcelain.

"Which was?" He asked inquisitively.

She smiled to herself. "Straightforward." She replied using his wording.

Kairi laughed at her. "Tsukasa-san if I didn't know any better I'd say you might like this 'acquaintance'." He teased.

Tsukasa playfully shoved him it the chest. "It's not like that!"

She looked over at the cat clock on the wall. "Oh no, I'm going to be late for work." She turned back to Kairi. "I came by to pick up confectioneries for the guys." She explained. "Could you help me?"

Kairi couldn't help but grin. It was a start. He leaned towards her. "Only because you asked." He lightly tapped her forehead.

They walked over to the cash register where she grabbed three packs of macarons; one for Keiichiro, one for Sakuya, and one for Noel. After he was done ringing her up, she picked up another one debating on whether or not to get one for her boss.

"Commander Hilltop was quite salty the last time somebody forgot to bring him treats." She thought aloud.

Kairi handed her back her card and her bag. "Take it. It's on me." He said with a smile.

Tsukasa smiled back at him. "Arigatou Kairi-kun."

He walked her to the door. "Tell Umika-chan I'm sorry I missed her, and that I'll see her this weekend." She called rushing out the door.

He waved goodbye to her and watched her disappear down the street until she was out of sight. He shut the door to the bistro and smiled mischievously to himself. "Straightforward eh?" He said with his hands on his hips.

He heard movement behind him and turned to see Touma and Umika rounding the corner.

"Huh? That's strange, I thought I heard Tsukasa-san voice." Umika wondered scanning the bistro.

"Oh, you just missed her." He told her. "She said she was sorry she missed you, and that she'll see you this weekend, whatever that meant."

Umika looked at him with surprise before growling at the other man. "Mou Touma," She slapped his arm. "Why did you have to pick now of all times to talk to me about the menu?!"

Kairi's jaw dropped when finally he put two and two together. Touma secretly smirked at him and he in turn responded with a glare. "Cheeky bastard…" He muttered under his breath.

"It was important." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yeah right!" She huffed crossing her arms. Her expression changed when she thought of Tsukasa. "How was she today?"

"She seemed better." He admitted. "I think all she needed was some time to work it out."

"Well that's good." She said relieved. "But _**now**_," She returned her attention to Touma. "I need figure out how to get her to meet with me on Friday."

"Friday?"

She tapped the side of her cheek. "Unless..." Quickly she took out her phone and dialed a number. "Ah moshimoshi." She said walking towards the door. She peeked outside from behind the curtain. "Did you arrive yet?"

* * *

Tsukasa quickly changed out of her suit before heading upstairs. When she got to the office everyone but Noel was already at their desks working.

"Sorry I'm late." She told them. "I uh, had to pick up something along the way." She noted to the bag in her hands.

Keiichiro and Sakuya looked up from their work. "Iie, don't worry about it." Keiichiro said.

She approached Hilltop's desk before placing a pack of macarons in front of him. "Enjoy." She told him happily. She then made her rounds to Keiichiro, then Sakuya who looked at them in confusion.

"Anou, what's this for Tsukasa-sempai?"

"Listen," She began fidgeting with the bag in front of her. "I know that I haven't been myself these past few days. And I just wanted to say 'thank you,' for putting up with me and my mood swings."

The men glanced at each other then back at her.

"I was having personal problems." She told them. "But, everything's all better now." She looked into each and every one of their faces. "Can you...forgive me?"

Keiichiro leaned back into his chair. "It's fine." He spoke up. "We're just glad you're back to your normal self."

"We were really worried about you sempai." Sakuya chimed in. "You know we're here if you ever need anything." He said trying not to pry.

Tsukasa smiled at her peers. "Thank you." She took the last one out of the bag. "I have to go and find Noel."

She turned and headed for the door.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Sakuya leaned across the table to whisper to Keiichiro. "You were **_really_** wrong about her sempai," He told his leader. "Tsukasa-sempai wasn't about to have her-"

* * *

She had to take the elevator back downstairs. When she reached the end of the hall, she spotted the familiar looking man. "Noel!" She called out. He turned and waited until she caught up to him.

"What's up?" He said cheerfully.

"I've been looking all over for you." She said handing him the package. "Here."

"Hmm, what's this?" He asked looking at the treats.

"They're my way of saying 'thank you.'" She told him. "I'm really grateful for all that you have been doing for me lately, especially keeping quiet about...you know." She said secretively. Tsukasa noticed his bandage sticking out, so she adjusted his collar for him. "I appreciate you."

He looked at the bag, then bag at her. "I'm glad I could be of help." He said grinning. "Sorry, but there's something I need to take care of. I'd best be on my way."

"Okay, I'll see you upstairs then." She said walking away.

She had just missed the elevator when she got to the lobby. While she was waiting, she began to hum a tune. All the negativity she had felt prior just seemed to wash away. 'Today is going to be a good day.' She told herself. 'I know it!' As she stood there, she scanned the crowd and recognized a friendly face that she hadn't seen in forever. "Mana-san?"

The soft-spoken college student spotted the female officer and waved at her. Tsukasa made her way towards her through the sea of people. "Hisashiburi." Mana told her in delight.

"What are you doing here?" She asked her. "Are you looking for Keiichiro?"

"Actually no." She replied. "I came here to find you."

"Me?" Tsukasa said in surprise. "What for?"

"Well," Mana giggled to herself. "I was told by a certain someone to find and kidnap you..."

* * *

**Aaaaand I'm going to leave that right there because I'm a horrible horrible person ;)**

**Author's Note: But really, it sets you up for the next chapter, and chapter 7.**

**So, what did you guys think?**

**I had to rewatch some of the old episodes and I swear at one point there was a cat clock XD I'm not making that one up!**

**Also, I have a small request: I'm looking for songs that kind of describe their relationship in a nutshell. It doesn't have to be to the T, but any recommendations help. I started listening to "Never Enough" from the Greatest Showman and this scene played out in my head where Touma and Aya are having their first dance to this song, and somewhere in the back we see Kairi and Tsukasa also dancing to this song... Ahhh I really want to write this fic!**

**As always, I appreciate every single review, so let me know what you guys think :)**


	6. Be Honest

**It's been about a week since I updated, hasn't it? Sorry guys. Work has been so busy lately, and then just recently I haven't been feeling well T-T must be from the cold weather we've been having. But on the flip side, I've got 2 chapters ready to go. I'll post this one first, and hopefully the next one in 24 hours or less, depending on how I'm feeling (health wise, not mood wise)**

**Here's your warning: You know I don't think there is one 😕**

**Disclaimer: I don't own or work for Toei, I just wrote the story.**

* * *

_**BE HONEST**_

* * *

Umika ran ahead staring into the window of the dress shop. She had a sparkle in her eyes that was just as bright as the dresses on display.

"Hurry up!" She called to her shopping buddies.

Mana quickly caught up to the yellow thief, behind her came a slow moving Tsukasa.

'This wasn't what I had in mind…' Tsukasa thought to herself.

When the words, "kidnap you" came flying out of Mana's mouth, she had a mini heart attack. That is, until she explained herself.

* * *

_Previously..._

"_Umika-chan sent me here to get you." She clarified._

"_For what?"_

"_Well, she said that because she missed you this morning, she wanted to ask you to go shopping with her tomorrow."_

"_Shopping?"_

"_Mm, hmm. She was going to take the two of us on a shopping spree to get ready for this weekend."_

"_This weekend..." Her eyes grew wider. "You mean...! Keiichiro..."_

_Mana giggled at her reaction. "It was so unexpected."_

"_Aww, how wonderful!" She ran up to give her a hug. "Well no wonder you're in town. Uh, not that it's a bad thing. It's about time actually." She said proudly._

"_Hehe, I was secretly thinking the same thing." She replied. "So, am I allowed to tell Umika-chan that we will see you tomorrow bright and early?"_

* * *

And that's how they ended up going to 49 different dress shops over the span of two days. It wasn't that Tsukasa didn't like shopping, she wasn't expecting it to take this long to help her friends find "the perfect" dress. Umika would spend hours trying on different dresses, say she liked two of them, and then leave the shop never to return again. As for Mana, the ones they had seen were quite flashy compared to her simple and elegant style.

"Why don't we go back to one of the previous stores we visited?" Tsukasa tried. "I'm sure if you had a second look at them, you would realize that you overlooked at least one of them."

"Uh uh, there's no way I overlooked any of them." She said firmly. "I know my dress is out there!"

Tsukasa knew Umika liked to shop, however she didn't realize she was a _**hardcore**_ shopper. Had she known that when Mana approached her, she would have turned and ran the other way.

They entered the small boutique where a saleswoman greeted them. Inside, Umika went in one direction while the other two stayed and made small talk.

"So, how was studying abroad in Austria? Is it nice there?"

"Oh it was so beautiful." Mana told her. "The mountains, the fresh air, all of it was mesmerizing!" She beamed. "I um, had been sending pictures to Keiichiro-san the entire time." She said shyly.

Tsukasa smiled at her.

Mana sighed in delight. "You know, I'm really glad to have met someone like Keiichiro."

"Well, _**we're**_ happy Keiichiro met someone like you." She said joyfully. "It takes a strong person to handle Keiichiro's personality.

Mana giggled. "I suppose so."

Tsukasa helped her look through a few of the racks, but to no avail. Almost all of the dresses in this store were either too loud, or too much. Perhaps this store wasn't THE store they were meant to be in.

When they got to the end of the aisle however, something had caught both their eyes; a beige, chiffon, floor length dress with off the shoulder sleeves that criss crossed in the middle. Around the waist was a belt-like embellishment wrapping the mid section with silver diamonds and white pearls. Next to it was a floor length, canary yellow, sleeveless dress with diamonds forming paisley shapes on the bodice and scattered lightly on the skirt.

These _**had**_ to be the dresses they were looking for.

"It's beautiful…" Mana touched the soft fabric.

"Why don't you go try it on?" She encouraged.

Grabbing the dress by the hanger and in the middle, she began walking to the dressing room.

It was then that Umika slumped her way back to Tsukasa. "Ugh, it's no use. My dress isn't in here." She moaned.

"Are you _**sure**_…?" Tsukasa grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around her to face the yellow dress.

Umika took in the dress silently. Ever so slowly she walked up to it, as if it were an animal that she didn't want to scare off.

"My gosh…" She breathe out. Slowly she became giddy again. "This is it Tsukasa-san!" She was bouncing around like a kid in a candy store. "This is **_my _**dress! Where's Mana-san, I want to show her!"

"She went to the dressing room. You should see _**her**_ dress when she comes out." She winked.

Quickly Umika grabbed the yellow garment and ran off to try it on.

About 10 minutes later, both girls emerged from their rooms full of smiles and glee.

"This is so beautiful." Umika said turning left and right in front of the mirror. She admired the lace-up style in the back of the bodice. "And it only took 50 stores to find it."

Mana looked at herself shyly in the mirror. "Anou, you don't think that this is too much do you?" The sleeves hung at the edge of her shoulders, and she was tempted to readjust them.

"Of course not. When Keiichiro sees you, he might faint!"

"Eh? I don't want that to happen!" She crossed her arms to cover herself up.

"Umika-chan is just kidding." Tsukasa said reassuringly. Both girls stared into the mirror. "But, when he does see you, he'll realize how blind he's been, and how foolish he was for making you wait so long."

Umika wasn't looking, but she had a small smile on her face hearing that.

"Tsuakasa-san." Mana began to feel much better.

After they changed back into their regular clothes, they purchased their dresses and left the boutique.

"Whew, glad that's over." Tsukasa said stretching her arms over her head. "Now then, why don't we go and-"

"Find your dress next!" Umika filled in.

"Yes!" She said triumphantly. "Wait? No no no, that's not what I was about to say!" She said shaking her head.

"But you need a dress, don't you?"

"I have a couple of dresses that might work." She told her.

"Yeah, I've **_seen_** those dresses, and they will definitely **NOT** work." Umika wagged a finger.

"But Umika-chan-"

"Nuh uh, say no more. You helped us find our dresses, so we're going to help you find yours."

"That's what I was afraid of…" She mumbled falling behind.

"Daijoubu." Mana told her. "We just need something that'll impress your date. Um, by the way, who is your date?"

"Huh? Well uh, I wasn't planning on going with anyone." She admitted.

"Mm, is that so?" She thought aloud. "But what about...Kairi-kun?"

"Hmm, what about him?"

"Well, call it a woman's intuition, or maybe just mine, but a few times I came in before I left for Austria I thought you two were pretty close."

"Wh-wha? You've got it all wrong! It's uh, it's not like that." She said embarrassed.

"Oh, I was so sure I was on to something." She said thinking to herself. "Well then, do you have anyone special in your life?"

'_Define special.'_ Tsukasa thought to herself. As if on cue, her mind began to fill her head with thoughts about Lupin Red.

* * *

Touma was out grocery shopping for items they needed at the bistro, dragging Kairi along with him. Umika had given them a list of things to purchase in order to keep it running smoothly without her over the next few days.

"And why do we have to do all the work while she gets ready for her 'date'?" Kairi complained carrying a couple of shopping bags.

"Because she's not just helping herself, she's helping her friends." He said simply.

"Well isn't _**that**_ very noble of her." He scoffed. "We're supposed to be focusing on the Collection pieces. Aren't you the very one that scolds us for getting sidetracked?"

Touma stopped suddenly, causing Kairi to bump into him.

"What gives?"

"Umika...she's happy right now." He began. "Do you remember what it was like when we first started; she always had on a fake smile, more fake than the one she wore when she was waiting tables." He turned to face him. "So for her to come so far, to finally grasp a piece of happiness -even if it's for a moment- that really says something." He sighed. "Umika is trying to live her life to the fullest. And at the same time, she's working towards our goal. That being said, what about you?"

"Me? What about me?"

"When are you going to start finding your own happiness?"

"Mine? I'm hap-" Touma raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm decent."

"But...for how long?"

Kairi looked away in uncertainty. All he ever wanted was to get his big brother back. But now look at him; he was forming and developing relationships with people whom he would have never in a million years given a second thought to. Touma, Umika, Keii-chan, Sakuya (surprisingly), Noel, Tsukasa...

Touma placed a hand on his shoulder. "A word of advice from one man who lost his world;" He said thinking about Aya. "Be honest with yourself."

"Eh?"

"Just think about what I said." He shrugged.

Kairi smirked at him. "Sure thing...dad."

He rolled his eyes at him. They began walking again until Touma stopped once more in the middle of the street.

"Jeez now what?" He said irritated. "You better not be giving me the talk about the birds and the-" He stopped when he followed Touma's line of sight; he was looking in the window of a costume shop. On display was a beautiful wedding dress, adorned with a long veil.

"What are you getting at?" He asked perplexed looking back and forth between him and the dress. But Touma wasn't looking at the dress; instead he saw what was being displayed in front of the dress. Kairi zeroed in on what he was looking at too.

As if he needed permission, Touma nudged him with his shoulder towards the shop. "Buy it."

* * *

Kairi split up from Touma on their way home, telling the older of the two he had something to take care of. Touma didn't ask questions as he knew already what it was; it was his idea after all. He returned home a few minutes before Umika did.

"Tadaima!" She called out cheerfully.

The guys were sitting in the kitchen area when she walked in.

"Okaerinasai." Touma said looking up from his magazine.

Umika laid her dress across one of the tables. "How did your grocery shopping go? Did you guys get everything on the list like I told you to?"

"Down to the two cans of tomato paste you made us buy." Kairi responded not looking up from his phone.

"Ahh yokatta."

"How was your shopping trip?" Touma asked making small talk.

"It was the amazing!" She sat down next to her dress. "50 stores later and I found my dress. It took Tsukasa-san 51 stores to find hers."

Touma and Kairi shot each other a look.

Umika sighed dreamily. "Ah, I can't wait for tomorrow night. It's going to be so..." She tried to think of the word. "Romantic."

"Someone's in a good mood." Kairi snorted. "It sounds to me like you bought more than just a dress. I hope you know that you have a curfew tomorrow; Sakuya doesn't need to see you turn into a pumpkin at midnight."

"And NOW you're ruining my mood!" She wailed. "Mou, Touma-kun, say something!"

Touma flipped to the next page. "No hanky panky." He told her without averting his gaze.

Umika growled at them. "Ah, cut it out you two!" She grabbed her dress off the table and stomped upstairs.

As soon as he heard her door slam, Kairi spoke up. "Hey Touma."

"Hmm?"

"You know when you see Aya again,"

He peeked at him from the corner of his eye.

"How are you going to tell her you adopted two kids without her consent; a 19 year old and a 20 year old?"

Touma chuckled at the question. "Shut up..."

* * *

By the time Tsukasa returned to her apartment, it was a little after 8. The girls decided to have dinner together and discuss their weekend plans. Umika and Mana were so ready for tomorrow, that Tsukasa was a little jealous of their excitement.

Nicely, she hung her own dress behind the door to her room. She looked at it through the garment bag; the dress was definitely beautiful, but it's not like she was trying to impress anyone, OR had anyone to impress for that matter.

Just as she turned towards her dresser on her right, she froze; right in the middle of it was another note, along with a box this time. Chills ran through her body, and a cold sweat dripped down her temple. Pulling out her VS changer once more, she crept around her apartment just to make sure; no open windows, no signs of breaking and entering, no fingerprints, nada.

She went back to her room and locked the door behind her. Tsukasa slid to the ground, hugging her knees to her chest; why couldn't they just leave her alone? Why only her? What did she do to deserve this?

Gathering her courage, she got up and approached the box with caution. Tsukasa quickly snatched the note beside it as if it would trigger a bomb. Hastily, she read it. Her mood lightened, only slightly, but now she was confused. Lifting the lid of the box she looked inside; and for the second time that day, her eyes grew wide in surprise...

* * *

**Author's Note: It's not as long as I would like it to be, sorry about that guys. Not sure if anyone caught it, but I made them go to 51 dress shops because of the amount of episodes that aired (I know, I know, lame humor).**

**If I can figure out how to upload the pictures of their dresses, or even post it to my profile, I can show you what they look like. If anyone knows how to do that please let me know.**

**Have a good one!**


	7. Masquerade

**I was literally sleeping all day yesterday, so I didn't even look at my computer until mid-afternoon. ****I must not be feeling well, because I forgot to write my "thank you's" and what not in the last chapter :/**

**-Toa Solaric**

**-Knoctis00**

**-rubius**

**-Guest 362**

**-PrettyRecklessLaura**

**You guys are amazing! Thank you for keeping up with me, I appreciate you all!**

**I worked really hard on this chapter, not that I don't work hard on any of the other ones :) Originally I had written this as a one shot. However when this story as a whole came into my head, I decided to incorporate it ^-^ If parts of it don't make sense that's probably why.**

**Here's your warning: It's longer...that's my only warning :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own or work for Toei, I just wrote the story**

* * *

_**MASQUERADE**_

* * *

Global Special Police Organization Masquerade Ball

7pm-12am

Wear a mask to keep your identity a secret

A masquerade is entertaining with more people

Bring a guest if you wish

* * *

That was all the invitation said. How in the world did they think that a Gangler wasn't going to attack at this time? More importantly, whose idea was it to hold a masquerade ball?

Tsukasa looked herself over in the mirror one more time before finally being content with how she looked. Her gown was a sleeveless pink one, with small pleats around the bodice. The hem was lined with silver, while sequins of the same color were placed among the top half, as well as her left side to resemble flowers. The back of the dress was similar to Umika's, where the backing was a lace up. To tie the outfit together, she wore her clear silver pumps. At first she was planning on leaving her hair the way it was, but Umika would hear none of it. Earlier that afternoon she stopped by her apartment to do her hair. Her tresses were curled softly at the bottom, and on each side, right above her ears, she wore small barrettes adorned with pearls of different sizes. On her bed was a box containing a pink mask along with another note:

_This mask was handpicked just for you._

_Wear it with your gown. It'll match, I promise_

_See you tonight._

Of course, like all the other notes the Kaitous leave, no fingerprints, and nothing handwritten.

Grabbing her invitation, along with the box, she headed downstairs to her car and drove to the hotel.

* * *

After parking her car, she turned off the ignition and sat there a few moments collecting herself. She really should have said something to someone, Noel especially. But something about this note seemed different from the other one.

Tsukasa reached for the box, and pulled out the mask. She traced the outline of it with her finger. She had to admit they weren't wrong about the mask and dress pairing quite nicely. At least they had _some _fashion sense. Of course she didn't consider the mask to be an ugly one, it was actually quite beautiful; although made of a material similar to plastic, silver glitter lined the edges along with decorative pink swirls going in every direction. Funny, this mask looked so familiar. Carefully she turned it over and tied it in the back of her head. Taking one last glance in her mirror she picked up her invitation and headed inside.

Two doormen, who were also wearing masks, opened the doors for her. It made her feel rich and fancy, not that that was necessarily a bad thing. As soon as she stepped inside she took in the scenery; people were dressed from head to toe in their masquerade attire. Everyone was wearing masks of all different shapes and sizes. Sure she knew that whoever was here worked for the GSPO, the only problem was figuring out who was who. The entire organization did such a good job disguising their identities using costumes and accessories such as gloves and hats.

* * *

As soon as she got to the top of the grand staircase, she noticed the main ballroom to her left. Above the doors hung a banner that read, "GSPO Masquerade." Well, at least she was in the right place.

"Good evening Tsukasa."

She jumped a little at the sound of her own name. She turned around and saw the sign-in table decorated in gold and pearly white garlands. Handling the table was Commander Hilltop and Jim.

"Sorry for scaring you." Jim apologized. "But I thought I should dress for the occasion as well." In the middle of his chest was a humorously large bow tie that covered his blue metal one. On his face was a plain black clothed mask that was tied in the back. It reminded her of that famous vigilante that rode on a steed named Tornado. What was his name? Zorro?

"Of course, by process of elimination, you probably figured out that it was me, Hilltop." He said lifting his mask. Her boss chose a simple black tuxedo with a silver Pantalone style mask.

"We're glad you could make it tonight." Jim told her.

"It's not like I had a choice..." She said under her breath.

"Tsukasa-san?"

"Ah iie, nandemonai." She said waving it off.

"The others should be inside by now. We should be ready to start soon." Hilltop validated her parking. "And uh, quick question before you go?"

"Hmm?"

"Be honest, could you tell it was us just by looking?" They stood back to back posing for her.

_Absolutely-_

"Had no idea sir." She said forcing a smile. "I was completely fooled."

That seemed to appease them. She waved goodbye and entered the ballroom.

It was like walking into a dream; golden chandeliers that hung from the ceiling gave the room a warm glow. Pillars of white were taped with masks of black and silver, or white and gold. The center of the room was made into a makeshift ballroom dance floor, while the outer edges were lined with round tables that had white and gold table cloths.

"Tsukasa-san!"

Tsukasa scanned the ballroom until she spotted Umika waving her over. Standing next to her happily was Sakuya, along with Keiichiro and Mana, who held onto his arm. Keiichiro and Sakuya wore black tuxes as well, but with red and green ties respectively. Keiichiro's mask was a gradient one that went from red to black, and Sakuya's was nearly identical to Umika's. Naturally Umika wasn't about to reveal her identity by wearing her Kaitou mask. Instead she asked Kogure to make another one similar to her yellow one, but silver instead. He did of course, much to his annoyance.

"You look so beautiful!" She beamed as she came up to the group. "I knew those barrettes would look much better on you than me."

"Thank you." She said blushing. "Where's Noel?"

"He's around here somewhere." Sakuya told her. "I think he's trying to make a good impression on the higher ups." They all nodded in understanding.

"Excuse us ladies. Sakuya, let's go get some drinks." Keiichiro told him. "Tsukasa, do you want anything?"

She shook her head at him. "No thank you."

As soon as their dates left, Mana and Umika huddled around her.

"Oh I wish you had told me that you didn't have a date." Umika said sadly. "If I had known that, I would've made Kairi or Touma come with you. Maybe Touma, I don't think Kairi would've taken this seriously." She pondered.

"If you would like to, you can share my date with me. I don't mind, and I'm sure Keiichiro-san wouldn't either."

"Ah, no no. It's fine really. Please don't worry about it. I'd rather not be a third wheel." She said forming a smile.

Mana nodded at her answer. "By the way where did you get your mask from? It's really phenomenal!"

"Oh, um, eeto..." How was she supposed to answer that?

_'A phantom thief gave it to me.'_ She said in her head. _'You know that special person you've been asking me about in my life.'_

"It...was...a gift." She managed to spit out. "I got it awhile ago."

The sound of a microphone being turned on silenced the rest of their conversation. A woman whom Tsukasa recognized from the lab department (even with her mask on) called for everyone's attention. "Shall we begin?"

* * *

**_Later on that night..._**

The masquerade, in her opinion, was not as bad as she expected it to be. For the most part it was entertaining, minus the corny jokes that Shinta Yanagami tried to tell; everyone laughed awkwardly because they didn't want to get written up. The best part: no Gangler attacks, yet. That was probably the one thing that bothered her tonight. That and the mysterious stranger who she wanted to put in a choke hold for breaking into her apartment.

It was beginning to wind down. And like most parties you go to, you know it's almost done when all that's left is the dancing. How people in this company learned how to waltz, she will never know.

Tsukasa stood on the side watching the others. It was amusing seeing her friends dance with their respective partners; Keiichiro didn't know how to dance so Mana was leading them, but he was having a hard time following her lead. Sakuya profoundly apologized for leading Umika ever so slowly, but she found that she didn't mind it one bit. It was a nice sight to see; the peace that she had been working towards for so long.

"Bonjour." Said a voice beside her. She turned to see Noel, dressed in his phantom thief attire.

"Noel." She said softly acknowledging his presence.

"Tell me Tsukasa-san, why would a beautiful woman such as yourself stay on the side while everyone is enjoying themselves. Why, even Umika is enjoying herself with Sakuya."

"I dunno. It's just...not really my thing." She said awkwardly. She took notice of his neck. "No bandage?"

"Hmm?"

"Your neck."

"What about it?" He asked rubbing it back and forth.

"Never mind." She shook her head. "Where have you been all night?"

"Mingling. I believe that's why they're called mixers, oui?" He noticed her uncomfortable expression. "Is something wrong?"

She didn't answer him, but he could kind of guess from her posture.

"You got another note?"

"Something like that. It was...different."

"In what way?"

"It wasn't a warning this time. It was..." What was it actually? A reminder? A notice? Advice?

While she contemplated her answer, he moved in front of her. "Dance with me." He said holding out his hand to her.

She looked at him in surprise. Did he seriously think she wanted to dance right now? When he made no attempt to change his mind, she took his hand as he led them to the dance floor. Turning to face her, he gently took hold of her waist and led them in a waltz.

"If you're worried about the Ganglers, and your phantom thief, don't be. I've asked the Lupinrangers to take care of any disturbances and to contact me if anything were to come up. Not only that, but we have GSPO all around us." He said twirling her.

"Almost all around us." She corrected. "I do have one phantom in front of me."

"Hmm, touché." He said giving her his trademark smirk.

"Noel, be honest. Was it you who sent me that note about my treasure?"

"You have my word that that was not me. I would never be so naive as to send it out to anyone other than a Gangler." He said spinning her so her back was to him.

"I believe you on that, but what about my mask?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"The note along with this mask. Did you send this to me?" Tsukasa asked returning to their original position.

Noel gave her a confused look. "I didn't send you a mask."

"May I cut in?"

Both GSPO detectives turned to see another man holding out his hand to Tsukasa. He was dressed in a black tuxedo, and underneath he wore a ruby red vest. Although he wore his top hat as well, his mask was the most recognizable thing about him.

"Kaitou..." She whispered.

Silently Noel eyed him, unsure of what he was planning.

"Well?" Kairi said staring into her eyes.

Hesitantly, she reached for his gloved hand. He gave her palm a small squeeze and led her a little further away from Noel. When they were far enough, he wrapped his arm around her and led her in the next movement.

"Do I have good taste or what?" He asked about her mask, even though he really wasn't the one who picked it out.

"What are you doing here?" She asked not really caring for small talk.

"It's like I said, 'See you tonight'."

"That's not what I meant." She replied cutting him off. "You're completely surrounded by GSPO workers, what makes you think I won't have you arrested?"

"Because I know you better." He said simply. "You're not one to spoil anything, especially when it comes to you."

She remained silent for a moment. "So, it was you who broke into my room and left this on my dresser." She stated rather than asked.

"Bingo."

"And that note about 'my treasure,' that was-"

"As I have said before, that wasn't me." Kairi said spinning her.

"Stop playing around. It has to be one of you. How could it be anyone else?"

"I'm not sure, but I would like to find out myself, and blast them for trying to impersonate one of us." He replied.

Literally, she was going around in a circle. "So then, what's your goal tonight?"

"To do some investigative work, among other things." He implied impishly.

Tsukasa was becoming irritated. "So what was the point of-?"

Kairi jerked her forward. "Man, are you seriously going to interrogate me at a time like this?" He asked frustrated. "Can you just stop asking questions for once and enjoy yourself?"

She raised her eyebrow at him.

"Please?" He tried again.

Tsukasa sighed in response and let him lead her in a dance. She hated to admit it, but she was starting to enjoy herself. She turned her head to the side, checking to see if anyone was staring at them. So far, her friends were still in their own little world, and Noel was once again nowhere to be found.

"You're daydreaming..." He whispered to her.

She returned her attention to him. "Sorry."

Kairi tried to lighten the mood. "Forgive me if I bore you tonight." He joked.

"No, that's not it at all." She tried to get her thoughts together. "I um...didn't think I would see you so soon."

He grinned. "Did I or my note not make that clear enough?"

"Well I didn't know that was you." She defended.

"Is that a bad thing, seeing me so soon?"

"What? No of course not." Her hand moved of its own will to the nape of his neck, sending electric shocks through his body.

"I actually wanted to strangle you for entering my room." She admitted.

Kairi laughed. "Just for entering your room?"

"Well yeah. That's my personal space. You couldn't have left it by the door or something?"

"I wasn't sure if you would actually see it there."

She rolled her eyes. "It's a box, there's no way I'd miss it."

"Heh, well now I know where to leave things for you next time."

"Who says there's going to be a next time?"

"Why wouldn't there be?" He teased.

"I change my mind; I might just have to arrest you now."

"You know if it weren't for the fact that I know how strong you are, I would actually let you."

She smiled back. "Well, you deserve it."

Their conversation began to dwindle, not that it mattered to either one. They were content with how things were. Tsukasa was happy to see him again, ecstatic even. But, she couldn't help but feel that this was all part of a bigger plot. As if...he was just using her to take the collection piece from whoever was messing with her.

"What is it?" Kairi asked, noticing her face was growing sadder.

"It's...it's nothing." She lied. The more she kept saying that, the more it came out naturally.

He pulled her closer. "Tell me."

"It's just..." She wanted to stay in this dream a little longer with him. But eventually, she would have to wake up and face reality. "Why are you really here?"

_Because I wanted to see you..._ Said the voice in his heart. "Because, I needed to know something..."

"Which is...?" She asked softly.

Time seemed to move slowly. They stopped dancing. Luckily for them they were off to the side where no one could bump into them.

Tsukasa gazed at him with uncertainty; so many questions were running through her mind, but not one of them she could get out; _Who are you? Why are you after the Lupin Collection? What will you do when you've obtained all of it? What is your goal? What are you hiding? How do you really feel about me...?_

Kairi looked deeply into her eyes, trying to guest what she was thinking. While his mind was telling him one thing, his heart told him something completely different. He moved his face closer to hers.

She bit her lower lip. "What do you want from me...?" She spoke softly, finally able to get at least one question out.

His fingers moved to tilt her chin upwards. He leaned forward, closing his eyes with every intention of kissing her...

_It's not fair...to you or to her..._ Something said in the back if his mind. _If you lead her on like this, she'll be even more hurt...especially when the truth comes out..._

That snapped him out of his trance. Kairi opened his eyes to see that she too had willingly closed hers, waiting for him. He sighed. Unfair indeed.

"I have to go..." He removed his fingers from under her chin and began to walk away.

"Wait!" She grabbed his hand in between hers. Tsukasa didn't know what came over her. She didn't know what to say, what she _**wanted**_ to say. All she knew is that she wanted more time with him.

In his mind, he wanted the exact same thing. Her hair fell forward when she looked down. A lock of hair, that **_same_** lock of hair actually from a few days ago, fell into her eyes once more. Without hesitation, he successfully tucked it behind her ear this time. "Adieu." He whispered. Gently he pulled his hand from her grasp and made his escape.

Tsukasa stood there ashamed. Had she said or did something wrong? She wanted to run after him, tell him to stay, follow him into the night, anything...but watch him walk away from her...

* * *

While she was distracted by her thoughts, Kairi quickly made his way to the door. He ran down the grand staircase and was just about to make his exit.

"Matte."

He stopped in his tracks. Noel was standing on the side of the staircase waiting for him. He should have known he would have wanted some answers from him.

"Sup."

"May I ask why you've taken a sudden interest in Tsukasa-san?"

He wasn't really in the mood for answering questions at the moment. "Well, you asked us to help you. Did you not?"

"True, but _I_ am here," He sauntered behind him. "Along with Umika-chan. Was there really a need for an extra body?"

"Well, you know what they say; the more the merrier." He said simply. "I like to be thorough with my findings."

"Understandable. But, is that really all?"

Kairi hated getting the third degree. He stood there unable to answer the question.

"What exactly are you planning?"

How many times was he going to get asked that? By now he should have a clearer understanding of what he was after...right?

"Tch, I don't know what you're talking about." He turned away from him.

"Hmm." Noel had his hand under his chin. "I know we're at a masquerade and all, but," He placed a hand on his shoulder. "Your pretense is falling through." He patted his shoulder and walked away. "Have a good night."

Kairi stood there in the middle of the lobby. He felt like he got the wind knocked out of him. Was this all really just a pretense? He kept saying it was to help Tsukasa-san but...what if there was more to it than that?

_'Be honest with yourself.'_

* * *

**Author's Note: **

**-Yes I gave Tsukasa a car in this chapter because there was no way I was going to make her walk to the hotel or catch a taxi. This world is scary nowadays.**

**-And I honestly don't know what their masks are made out of. If you remember from episode 13 where Umika got hit in the face, and then she stuffed her mask in Tsukasa's costume so she wouldn't get hurt as much when she took that hit...their masks are pretty solid!**

**Oh, and in case you were wondering, I've laid out the rest of the story, and it looks like there's at LEAST 2 chapters left. So "Yay" or "Nay", depending on how you feel about this story. For me it's a bittersweet feeling. Anyway, let me know what you guys think and I'll do my best to get the next part up soon!**


	8. Realizations

**We'll just jump right into the chapter, I can explain a few things at the end.**

**Here's your warning: It's a little depressing actually, sorry about that.**

**DISCLAIMER**: **I don't own or work for Toei, I just wrote the story.**

* * *

_**Realizations**_

* * *

Kairi stood outside the door of the bistrot, not wanting to go in yet. By the time he got back it was nearly midnight. 'At least...I didn't turn back into a pumpkin' He told himself jokingly.

* * *

_Previously_

_He had snuck into the ball right when it was beginning to wind down. Commander Hilltop and Jim were nowhere near the sign-in table, so he managed to walk right in. You would think there would be more security considering this was a GSPO gathering._

_Kairi hung back near the entrance scanning the room for Umika and Noel first, hoping they wouldn't catch him. When his eyes landed on Tsukasa, it became hard to look away from her. He knew she was beautiful already, but the moment he walked in and saw her standing off to the side, he was pretty sure his jaw dropped. The gown hugged her in all the right places. Paired with her mask and soft smile; it gave her an air of mystery, one he was willing to challenge._

_For the most part he leaned against the wall keeping an eye on her. Every so often a woman would come up to flirt with him or ask him to dance. In a very gentleman-like manner he tipped his hat to them and declined politely. Of course, the moment he saw Noel approach Tsukasa and lead her away on the dance floor, Kairi felt a small pang of jealousy. 'Now,' He thought pushing himself off the wall. 'Would be a good time for her to actually "see me."'_

_Casually he strolled over to greet her formally as well as steal her away from Noel. No surprise to find them both stunned as he approached them mid-waltz. Kairi bowed respectfully and asked her for one dance. To his surprise, and hers secretly, she agreed and allowed him to lead her away._

_His mind then wandered back to his attempt at kissing her; at that time his mind and heart were fighting for dominance over him. One thought about the future consequences, while the other lived in the moment. His mind won in the end and he managed to leave her somehow, but not before wounding her emotionally, and facing persecution from Noel too._

* * *

Pretty eventful for one hour, he must say. Making sure nothing was sticking out of the suitcase, he opened the door to the bistro. "Tadaima!" He called out.

Touma was standing in the kitchen when he came in. "Welcome home. Where did you run off to this late?"

"Oh you know, just some...late night shenanigans." He noted to the suitcase in his hand.

Touma stared at him quietly, making him slightly uncomfortable.

"So, did Umika come back?" He asked putting the suitcase down.

"Not yet, she should be home soon. Sakuya should be dropping her off any minute now."

"Good, then you can pull the old 'Do you have any idea what time it is' routine on them. Good practice for the future." He teased.

Touma rolled his eyes at him. Just then both men heard the front door burst open. Umika stomped into the room slamming the door behind her.

"Perfect timing." He said crossing his arms.

Touma walked around the counter to greet her. "Welcome home, how was-"

_SMACK!_

Before Touma could even finish his sentence, Umika walked up to Kairi and slapped him hard across the face.

Kairi held his cheek in pain. "What the hell was that for?!"

"What did you do to Tsukasa-san?!" She growled.

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw you at the masquerade earlier."

"You went to the masquerade?" Touma asked surprised.

Kairi didn't say a word. He had hoped he could escape without being seen by Umika, since he already blew his cover in front of Noel. He wondered if Keii-chan or Sakuya saw him too. Probably not if he was able to leave peacefully.

"Tsukasa looked devastated when I found her." She said disrupting his thoughts. "What did you say to her before you left?!"

"You went to see Tsukasa? Wait, is that why you were at the masquerade in the first place?"

Again, Kairi stayed silent. The jig was up. But unlike facing the GSPO officers, he had nowhere to run when being confronted by them.

Umika tapped her foot impatiently. "Well?"

Touma took a seat near the kitchen, waiting for his response.

"What happened…after I left?" He finally asked.

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

_Umika swayed happily in Sakuya's arms. She never would have guessed that she would actually be this comfortable around him. Perhaps looks really were deceiving; on second thought, they probably were._

"_What are you smiling about?" Sakuya asked looking down at her._

_She shook her head at him. "Nothing in particular. Thank you for inviting me; I'm having a wonderful time tonight."_

"_No, thank you for being my dat- er, guest." He said correcting himself. No point in getting his hopes up. Sakuya leaned forward to dip her in his arms._

_Umika laughed. "You can say date if you want to. I consider this to be one."_

_Sakuya had a big grin on his face when he pulled her upright._

_As he spun her around, Umika spotted Tsukasa standing near the window talking to someone. She squinted to eyes to get a better look. It took her seconds to realize that she was talking to Kairi as Lupin Red._

"_EH?" She shrieked._

"_What is it?" Sakuya asked looking in her direction._

_Quickly she grabbed his face, diverting his attention away from Tsukasa. "Ah iie. Nandemonai."_

_She looked back just in time to see Kairi remove his hand from her cheek and walk away, leaving Tsukasa visibly upset. She watched him disappear behind the double doors of the entrance before deciding to check on Tsukasa._

_"Anou, could you excuse me for a moment, I need to go to the ladies room." She said apologetically._

_Umika made her way towards Tsukasa while Sakuya walked off to find Keiichiro and Mana. By the time she got to her it was worst than she imagined._

"_Tsukasa-san." Umika said touching her shoulder._

_She looked at the woman dressed in pink; her expression was a mixture of wanting to cry, and attempting to keep a brave face for appearance sake. "What happened?" She asked her. Umika had hoped that she would give her at least some sort of clue as to what Kairi had said or done to her. But, in the state she was in now..._

"_Umika-chan..." She choked out._

* * *

The room fell silent as Umika recounted what had happened but hours ago.

Kairi stared an imaginary hole into the ground, hoping it would become real so he could make an escape. He hadn't realized how badly he had hurt her from his actions.

"What happened?" Umika asked calmly once more, crossing her arms.

"I tried to kiss her…" He confessed.

"You did what?!"

Touma covered his face, shaking his head.

She felt like slapping him all over again. "Why would you do that, what is **_wrong_** with you?" Her eyes grew wide. "Masaka, do you have feelings for Tsukasa-san?"

He continued staring at the floor. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" She repeated. "How can you not know? Do you **_know_** how confusing that sounds, how confusing that must be for Tsukasa-san who's so vulnerable right now because of this whole phantom thief thing? And you just decided to take advantage of it by playing with her emotions?"

"That wasn't what I was trying to do!"

"Then what **_were_** you trying to do?!"

Kairi couldn't answer that question. How could he? Even if he managed to come up with one they still wouldn't be satisfied with it.

Umika took his silence as his answer. She strode past him upstairs, returning a few minutes later wearing sweatpants and a jacket with an overnight bag in her hands.

"Where are you going?" Touma asked.

"To Mana-san's, I'm sleeping over at her house tonight." She told him. "We're having a sleepover to cheer up Tsukasa-san; she's in the car right now with Sakuya-san."

"Tsukasa's-" He took a step towards the door.

"Stop!" She said glaring at him. "Don't even think about it." She warned. "You've done enough for one night." Umika adjusted the strap on her bag. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." She bid them goodnight, shutting the door behind her.

The room grew silent again. Touma glanced up at the younger man.

He let out a sigh. "What?" He asked crossing his arms. "You're not gonna lecture me too are you?"

"I'm not even sure this deserves a lecture."

"Hey I was just following your advice; be honest."

"Were you being honest though?"

"Of course I was! I was doing what my heart told me to do."

"Mess with her mind?"

"What? No. It's not like that. Jeez why is everyone on my ass all of a sudden? If you really want me to be honest, then why don't I just reveal I'm Lupin Red to her, and then we can all go to jail? Huh! How's that for honesty?" He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "At any rate, why am I the only one getting lectured for this? Why aren't you telling Umika about all of this honesty nonsense?"

"Because Umika's not doing what you're doing!"

"Bull! Umika's doing the exact same thing!"

"Umika's not the one hiding behind a mask!" He said standing up.

Kairi held his glare defensively.

Touma took a deep breath before continuing. "It's true that she's still not revealing her identity as a phantom thief yet, none of us are. But Umika's true feelings...they're being expressed as Umika, not as Lupin Yellow."

Kairi didn't know how to respond to that. Every time Umika spoke with Sakuya, even expressed a slight interest in him, she always did it as Umika. To be fair, Sakuya never really showed any interest in Lupin Yellow, minus that one time he said she smelled nice. But beside that, she wasn't pretending to like him to get info out of him, she genuinely did so.

He grabbed the edge of the table to steady himself before slumping down into one of the seats. So much for being straightforward.

"I didn't think I would have to spell this out for you." He told him. "But...if you truly do have feelings for Tsukasa, then why don't you tell her; face to face, no hiding under a mask."

Kairi drew circles on the table with his finger. "Demo...what if she doesn't like the person under the mask?"

"You've never asked. Maybe the person under the mask is just what she wants, someone that's real." He placed a hand on his shoulder. "You should try and talk to her. But not for awhile, unless you want Umika to kill you."

He smirked at the thought. "That sounds like something she would do."

Touma took the suitcase from him. "It's getting late. We should get some rest for tomorrow." Kairi raised an eyebrow at him. "No, we're not opening the bistro. But we do need our energy in case something does come up and it's Gangler related." He gave him a stern look. "No more late night rendezvous." He told him. "I don't want to have to keep staying up late because of you."

Kairi leaned back in his chair with a grin. "Thanks dad." He called, watching Touma leave the room.

He tilted his head backwards staring at the ceiling. Kairi didn't go up right away. He wanted to- no, he **_needed_** to collect his thoughts and figure out his feelings; otherwise it was going to cause trouble for him and everyone else later on.

Everyone was so insistent that he had feelings for Tsukasa; Touma, Umika, even Noel seemed to catch on. But…were they right?

He compared his feelings for Tsukasa to that of Umika, which turned out to be really gross since he could never see Umika in that sort of way. They lived together for so long now that they were practically family. He wiped that thought from his brain and compared her to Mana instead. Aside from the fact that Mana was taken, it was a completely different feeling; Mana was sweet, soft, of course pretty, but also not a girl he was particularly interested in. Tsukasa was also sweet, but also strong minded, had conviction, didn't take crap from anyone, not to mention she had purpose. She had a reason for what she was doing, and that in turn mirrored his.

As he listed off all of the qualities he liked about her in his head, the clearer it became to him. More than ever now he was certain about how he felt about her. And it only took a little bit of time (And a good slap in the face) for him to see that.

"I'm…" He began to say. He chuckled, thinking about the next words to leave his mouth. "I'm in love with Tsukasa-san…"

* * *

Tsukasa sat on the couch with her legs tucked underneath her. It was a little after one, nearly two hours after they left the masquerade. She had just gotten out of the shower and was waiting for the other two to return.

Mana ran upstairs to grab blankets for the three of them while Umika wandered into the kitchen to fix them something. She puffed air into her hands, trying to keep warm. Umika said that this sleepover was to help her feel better, but she was unsure how effective that would be.

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

"_Umika-chan…" She tried to hide the rasp in her voice from nearly crying. "I'm...I'm not feeling well all of a sudden. I think I'm going to head home now."_

_Umika looked at her with concern. "Okay. Give me a second to let the others know that you're leaving."_

_"Wait!" She said stopping her. "I'm not really in the mood to say goodbye to them. Could you tell them for me please?"_

_Umika didn't feel like leaving her alone by herself, not that Tsukasa would do anything or was capable and such. And yet…_

"_Sorry, but as your friend I'm unable to let you go home by yourself."_

"_Hmm?"_

"_It's too dangerous; I wouldn't want you to fall asleep at the wheel, or get into an accident on your way home." She replied feigning naivety. "I'll ride with you to your apartment, and I can have Sakuya-san pick us up from there. We'll stay at Mana-san's tonight so we can look after you."_

"_But-"_

_Umika held up a hand to stop her. "I told you," She grabbed both her hands and gave her a reassuring smile. "It's because we're friends."_

_And that's exactly what happened. Right after Umika told Mana of her sleepover idea, she rode with Tsukasa back to her apartment where Tsukasa changed out of her masquerade attire. After she hung her dress in her closet, she turned around and picked up the mask lying on her bed. A part of her wanted to throw it away, pretend it never happened. But she knew it wouldn't erase **what** had happened, what feelings it sparked within her. Those memories would stay in her heart. She left the mask on her dresser and proceeded to grab her things for the night. Tsukasa stuffed a set of pajamas and a bag of toiletries into a pink duffel, along with a set of clothes for tomorrow. Thankfully she didn't have to work the next day, but she was still on call just in case._

_When they heard Sakuya pull up, she locked up her apartment and went outside to meet him. He drove them all the way to Jurer so Umika could grab her things as well. "Wait in the car." She told them. "I'll be right back."_

_While they were sitting there, Sakuya looked in the rearview mirror keeping an eye on her. Umika hadn't told him the details of what had happened, but Tsukasa definitely didn't look sick in that sort of sense. There was though, evidence of pain in her expression._

"_Anou, sempai…"_

_Before he could say anything else Umika came outside with her overnight bag in hand. "Sorry about that." She said sliding into the front seat. "I had something I needed to take care of." She placed her bag on top of her lap. "Now then, shall we get going?"_

* * *

"Tea's ready." Umika announced interrupting her thoughts. She came into the living room dressed in yellow pajamas decorated with Sun patterns grinning from ear to ear. In her hands she held a tray of mugs filled with warm tea. "It's a little bit hot."She said handing one to Tsukasa. "But it's so good as it begins to cool down."

Tsukasa held the cup close to her, enjoying the warmth that emitted from it. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. My best friend taught me this recipe." She said grabbing her own mug, sitting on the floor in front of her. "She called it 'smile tea', because by the time you finish the whole mug, you're smiling in satisfaction. It's made with honey, and a dash of cinnamon." She took a sip before holding it in her lap. "Whenever something really upset me, or I was having a hard day, she would make this for me. She said it was passed down from generation to generation, but let's be honest; she made that part up on the spot." She giggled.

Tsukasa smiled, bringing the mug to her lips and allowing the warm liquid soothe her insides. "It's delicious."

"Isn't it? The cinnamon was my idea."

Tsukasa covered the top of the mug letting the steam pass through her fingers. "Umika-chan?"

"Hmm, what is it?"

She looked down at her lap. "Well, you see..." She ran her thumb across the rim. "Have you...have you ever been hurt by someone before?"

"Hurt?" She tilted her head to the side. "In what way?"

"Like," She tried to describe the pain she was feeling at the moment. "It hurts to smile, even a fake one is the most painful. You feel lost. Or, you've done nothing wrong and yet it still feels like it's your fault. You can sit for hours staring at nothing; not even thinking, just drilling holes into the ground with vision alone." Tsukasa closed her eyes softly. "Even picturing their face makes you feel disgusting, and you're not sure why you feel that way..." She opened her eyes, linking her fingers around the mug as best as she could. "Have you...ever felt that way before?"

Umika sat there thinking about it. "Hmm...Honestly, no I haven't. But if I may," She scooted closer to her. "Do you think that...you might be in love?"

"Love?"

"Mm hmm, love. Sounds to me like you're in love with whoever is making you feel this way. It hurts because you're unsure what you want to do next; you can't decide if you want to punch them in the face for being so stupid, or pull them into your arms and keep them close to you." Umika had a big grin on her face. "I'm sure Mana-san must have felt that way at least once about Keiichiro-kun."

Tsukasa thought about her diagnosis. Sure she's always wanted to punch Lupin Red in the face; they've been enemies for how long already. On the other hand, to pull him closer…that sounded right too. It would explain why she stopped him from walking away, and why she was so willing to let him kiss her at the ball. As confusing as that sounded, it also made a whole lot of sense.

Umika watched her earnestly; not that she was trying to help Kairi in any sort of way, God no, she was still mad at him. But, Tsukasa had to realize that she was falling for her teammate. At least if they both came to terms with their feelings, she could have another "speedy confessions" event at the bistrot again. Wouldn't that be a sight; the level-head and the knuckle-head falling in love.

"You really think I could be in love with him?"

"Mm, either that, or you loathe the heck out of him." She shrugged.

That made her laugh. "Perhaps it's not the latter then." She admitted. Tsukasa took another sip; the 'smile-tea' seemed to be doing its job. "Arigatou Umika-chan."

"Hmm? For what?"

"For being so kind and caring, you really are a great friend."

Umika gave her a smile that mimicked the suns on her PJs.

"I'm back!"Mana called from the top of the stairs. "Sorry for the delay. I forgot it's been so long since I had company over." She placed a blanket on each of their futons in her living room. "Did I miss anything?"

"Oh nothing special." Umika said swaying her head back and forth. "Tsukasa-san is in love with someone." She squealed.

"Really? That's wonderful." Mana clapped her hands together. Umika handed her some tea. "Now we can go on group dates together!"

"Yep, our Tsukasa-san is growing up so fast." She teased. "Ah, what are we going to do with you?" She asked patting her leg.

Mana became giddy with excitement. "You see, I knew my intuition was right!" She told Tsukasa. "I knew you and Kairi were a perfect match!"

"Kairi?!" Both girls freaked out.

"Oh, is that not who we're talking about here?" She asked confused.

"Well uhh..." Umika began. "Yes and no." She hissed under her breath.

"It's actually someone else." Tsukasa spoke for herself. "I uh, didn't say anything because I was too ashamed of who it was."

Mana touched her chin. "I see." She sighed. "Aw, and I was so sure of myself this time." Mana took a sip of the 'smile-tea.' "So then, if it's not Kairi, who is it?"

Tsukasa and Umika froze.

"Umm..."

"Oh that doesn't really matter." Umika said waving it off. '_Even though you're one **hundred** percent correct.' _"Let's just finish our tea for now and get some shut eye. We can talk more about this in the morning, ne?"

* * *

**Author's Note: Okay guys, I know it's been nearly two weeks since I updated and I apologize for that. I've been busy with work lately. Not to mention I had a major Writer's Block with this chapter. The hardest part was trying to write Tsukasa's feelings of pain; I just couldn't put it into words. That is, until I experienced it myself; earlier this week I met this guy who I was really into. And, to make a long story short, I was heart broken. Just so you know I'm not using that as an excuse as to why I couldn't get this done sooner. Actually it's quite the opposite; because of that I was able to get _it_ done. (By the way, this song popped up on my YouTube recommendations called _"If My Heart Had A Heart" by Cassadee Pope._ It pretty much describes how Tsukasa's feeling at the moment. I suggest you go listen to it to see what I mean._)_**

**And I know I keep hopping back and forth between 'bistro' and 'bistrot', but I'm not sure what I should actually call it. On their menu it says 'Bistrot' but it's technically called a 'bistro' right? If anyone knows the answer let me know.**

**But anyway, more and more ideas for this story keep pouring into my head. So it might not be as short as I made it out to be. Actually, I think a possible sequel is in the works ;) That is, if I can get my shhhh-stuff together haha.**

**Thank you to everyone who's been keeping up so far, and to those who have been leaving reviews for me:**

**-Guest 362**

**-Toa Solaric**

**-Guest Melody**

**-Knoctis00**

**-PrettyRecklessLaura**

**-rubius**

**As always, let me know what you guys think and I'll try to get back into the groove of writing. Have a good one!**


	9. Time's Up

**Let's start with the "thank you's" first: Thank you for waiting patiently for me to get it together and finish this chapter. Thank you to everyone who's been reviewing so far;**

**-Guest 362 (I actually like that song, it does fit them perfectly. Thank you for the recommendation ^-^)**

**-Guest Melody (Thank you for your encouragement, I'm actually over him already, so yay! Haha ^-^)**

**-Toa Solaric (It'll be revealed soon**** : )**

**-Knoctis00**

**-PrettyRecklessLaura**

**Now that I got that out of the way, you might notice this chapter is a little bit shorter. But that's because I had to split in two because it would've been way too long. Ever so slowly I'm starting to tie up loose ends, which means we're getting to the end :(( But that's enough for now, enjoy Chapter 9!**

**Here's your warning: Because I took forever and a day, you might have to reread the previous chapters to refresh your memory lol**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own or work for Toei, I just wrote the story**

* * *

_**Time's Up**_

* * *

_The Next Morning_

Shortly after eight, the girls were already up getting ready to start their day. Umika had begun baking croissants in the kitchen, something easy that Touma taught her how to make. While she was working on that, Tsukasa made coffee for all of them, and was sitting in the living room conversing with Mana.

"Thank you again for letting us sleepover." She said gratefully. "I'm sorry that it was on such short notice."

Mana shook her head. "Think nothing of it; I really don't mind the extra company."

Tsukasa couldn't help but wonder about these two; they only knew so much about her-and vice versa-yet they were so welcoming towards her.

"Is something wrong?" Mana asked her.

"Nothing." She replied shaking her head. "You and Umika-chan have been so nice to me, and well," She looked down into her mug. "I honestly know so much about you both. And I'm sure it's the same for you; we've really only crossed paths at Jurer. Ah, please don't think that that's a bad thing." She said correcting herself. "What I mean is, I'm sure there's a lot that you don't know about me, yet I can't think of a lot of people who would be so hospitable to someone they barely knew. Please forgive me for sounding insincere. I just, feel bad you know..." She said sheepishly.

Mana only laughed. "Don't worry about it. Rather, I think that it was fate that we met there." She put her own mug down. "When I met you, I got to meet Keiichiro-kun." She said blushing. "And I got to meet Umika-tachi too, and became good friends with her and you because of it." She said happily.

Tsukasa matched her smile. She really hoped Keiichiro would see the light one day, and not let Mana slip away from him. In all honesty, they really were perfect for each other.

"Anou, may I ask you something?"

"Hmm? Uh, sure."

She leaned in towards Tsukasa."Forgive me for pestering you with this subject, but will you tell me why the prospect of you and Kairi-kun possibly being a great match is out of the question?"

"Well," Tsukasa began. "For one I don't really know him that well; and what I do know of him, I never actually asked him face to face for that information." She admitted. "There's also an age difference between us; I mean I know to some people 6 years isn't so bad." She shrugged. "And...well," Tsukasa frowned to herself. "He's not really my type."

"Well, what is your type?" Mana inquired.

Tsukasa took a moment to think about it "Let's see, a man who's sincere, kind, not rash," She added thinking about Lupin Red. "Family-oriented, loves hand-written notes just as much as I do, and also, he has to be passionate; I don't mean in a relationship type of way, although that would be nice. But I mean passionate in something he enjoys doing; like his job, or a hobby."

Mana leaned towards her once more. "And, you really don't think Kairi-kun has any of those qualities?"

"I didn't say that." She justified embarrassed. "I guess...I don't know…"

Mana placed a hand over hers. "I admit, I know just as much about Kairi-kun as you do; maybe less on some things, possibly more on others. But what I do know, is that the things I know more about him than you do, is exactly what you described to me as 'your type'."

Tsukasa didn't say anything.

"You may only see the side of him that works at the bistro, but sometimes when I get together with Umika-tachi when they're off work, he's definitely a different man."

She looked back at her hostess. "In what way?"

Mana only smiled. "Why don't you see for yourself next time?" She invited.

Tsukasa thought about her offer when Umika came in with a tray of baked goods.

"Croissants are ready!" Umika announced. "Come and get them while they're piping hot!"

Mana grabbed a TV dinner table nearby so Umika could set the tray down. "They smell delicious!" She told her.

She handed one to Tsukasa on a napkin. "Hehe, thank you. I believe these little yummies can cure those late night blues." She said with a wink.

Umika sat down on the floor with a croissant of her own. "Itadakimasu!" She was just about to take a bite into her flaky pastry, when they heard the doorbell ring.

"I wonder who that could be." Mana asked settling down on the sofa.

"I'll get it" Umika replied. She peeked out the window first to see who it was. Surprised, she opened the door to see Sakuya standing there grinning from ear to ear.

"Sakuya-san?"

"Good morning Umika-chan." He greeted cheerfully.

She closed the door behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"I came by to check up on you ladies. How's Tsukasa-sempai feeling?"

"She's doing better actually. I think we're going to have another girl's day together."

"Oh? Y-you were?"

"Umm, yes actually. Is that okay?" She asked concerned. Umika noticed he was holding something behind his back. "Anou, what do you have there?"

"Well uh..." He pulled a bouquet of flowers from behind him. "I bought these for you on my way over."

"They're beautiful." She said softly taking them from him. "Thank you, but what are these...for..." Her eyes grew wider at the sudden realization. "Oh no! I'm so sorry! I forgot we were supposed to have lunch today!"

"Daijoubu." Sakuya said honestly. "We can always reschedule it, it's no big deal."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course." He assured her. "I know how busy you are looking after Tsukasa-sempai, and I really appreciate that. Arigatou gozaimasu." He said with a smile.

"Sakuya-san..." She said touched.

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, well, it's no big deal. We can have lunch some other time. I know this restaurant that has a nice view of the city; they also have really good meals for-"

Umika leaned up on her tip toes and pressed her lips to his, cutting him off.

"You're really sweet." She told him after a few seconds. "Shall I see you tomorrow?"

"Um, ah yeah...of course." He replied trying to compose himself. "Most definitely."

"Great, see you then!" Quickly she waved goodbye trying to hide her blush, closing the door behind her.

Sakuya blinked a couple of times before regaining his composure. As he walked down from the porch, there was a spring in his step. He did a little twirl, and a huge grin appeared on his face.

"BEST…DAY…EVER!" He heartily declared.

Behind the door, Umika giggled softly to herself watching him. She cradled the bouquet in her arms. Funny, she was the phantom thief here, yet _he_ was the one who stole her heart. As soon as he danced his way out of sight, she turned around and saw Mana and Tsukasa standing there.

"Oh. Um…a hehe." She said bashfully.

Her friends gave her knowing looks.

"What? I felt bad that I forgot about our lunch date, so…"

"So you kissed him!" Mana finished for her with glee. She ran up to her giving her a big hug. "Umika-chan you're so in love with him!"

"Eh? Chigau! That's not-"

Before she could say anymore, Mana started uttering things like when her wedding date was going to be, or how many children she was planning to have.

Tsukasa leaned against the wall watching them. She remembered when Umika used to get the heebie jeebies just from being near him. And now look at them; their relationship with had come such a long way. A part of her was a little envious. If only…there was a way for her to be open with her feelings like that…

* * *

_Meanwhile_

Keiichiro came into the office dressed in his regular civilian clothes. Well, as regular as he could be; a light blue buttoned down long sleeve rolled up to his elbows and charcoal jeans were close enough. He had stopped by to grab something from his desk when he noticed Commander Hilltop in the hallway.

"What are you doing here on your day off?" He asked Patren Ichigo as they stepped into the elevator.

"There was a file I left here that I wanted to study. I came by to pick it up so I could read at home." He replied casually. "I wanted to be productive while I'm away from the office."

Hilltop watched him step off the elevator. He made a 'hm' noise as if it was normal for anyone to do that sort of thing when they're supposed to relaxing _away _from their workplace.

The office door slid open, and Keiichiro made a beeline for his desk. While he was rummaging through his things, a medium sized package sitting on top of Tsukasa's desk caught his eye; a square box, dressed in white wrapping paper with pink flowers on it, and a large pink bow finished it off. Weird, it's not like it was her birthday or anything.

"Did you leave that for Tsukasa?" He asked, pointing his thumb in the direction of the object.

"Me? No actually, it was here when I got in about an hour ago." Hilltop said waving his palms.

"That's strange." Keiichiro wandered over and examined the box in his hands. "I wonder who left it." No card or hand written message anywhere on it. Maybe it had come from a secret admirer he deduced, possibly someone from the masquerade last night. He gave the box a small shake. Keiichiro thought he heard noises coming from it, so he put his ear close enough to listen. Suddenly his eyes grew wide. "It's ticking!" He shouted.

Commander Hilltop quickly jumped up from his desk as Keiichiro ran over. Both men ducked down by the window just in time as they heard a loud bang. A few seconds later, Keiichiro carefully peeked out, aiming his VS Changer just in case. As the smoke began to clear, they noticed that everything was still intact; nothing was blown to smithereens like they had imagined. The only thing that was amiss was the confetti scattered all about his and Tsukasa's desk. The package was split open at the top with a spring sticking out of it like a jack-in-the-box. Swaying back and forth on the spring was a small card. Keiichiro cautiously took a few steps closer to make out what it said. When he finished reading it his jaw dropped in fear. "Masaka…."

* * *

Sakuya had just grabbed a bite to eat when his phone began to ring. "Sempai?" He answered happily. "Don't tell me you wanted to hang out today?"

"Sakuya." He said seriously. "I need you to come down to the station right now."

"On our day off?" He asked surprised. "But why?"

"Hayaku!" Keiichiro all but shouted into the phone. "It's important."

He straightened up immediately. "Wakata." He nodded. "Let me call Tsukasa-sempai and have her meet us there."

"Don't!" He told him. "Not yet. I'll...give her a call later."

"Umm, okay, see you in a bit." Sakuya replied hanging up the phone in confusion.

* * *

When he got upstairs there were people coming in and out of the office. GSPO's CSI were taking pictures as well as samples off of Tsukasa's desk. To the side near Jim's work space, were Commander Hilltop and Keiichiro talking with Noel.

"Anou, what's going on?"

The three men turned towards their youngest member.

"Sakuya, do you know anything about this?" Hilltop asked handing him a card in an evidence bag.

Sakuya took it and read the note to himself. "It's like the ones the Lupinrangers fling at the Ganglers. But what's it doing here?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out." Hilltop explained. "Keiichiro and I found it on her desk inside a gift box."

"Huh that's weird. It's not like Tsukasa-sempai has any hidden Collection pieces, does she?"

Noel stayed quiet throughout their analysis.

Keiichiro shook his head. "I don't think so. But it is strange that it was meant for Tsukasa alone. Look at the wording; it only addresses one person."

"Were there any trace of fingerprints?" Sakuya asked holding up the bag.

"They're checking right now. They were inspecting her desk for anything out of the ordinary, but so far they've come up short."

"Souka?" He said nodding. "Hm? Is that why you didn't want me to call her, sempai?"

"Ah. I wanted to check it out first to make sure it was nothing for us to worry about. But now it seems like we do need to." He glanced back at her desk. "Curse those phantom thieves..."

"Pardon me, but if I may, I don't think that they're behind it this time." Noel told them.

The rest of the group turned to him.

"What makes you say that?" Hilltop asked him.

Noel kept his mouth shut.

"Noel, if there's anything...anything you know at all, please share it with us." Keiichiro said solemnly.

Their X teammate sighed. He knew Tsukasa was going to hate him for this but, what choice did he have?

"Gomen," He said to them. "But, Tsukasa...told me not to say anything…"

* * *

It was around mid-evening when Umika received a phone call from Sakuya. The ladies had decided to do a little retail therapy to lighten their moods and were just on their way back to Mama's house. Umika's face lit up when she saw Sakuya's name on the caller ID.

"Moshimoshi?" She answered cheerfully.

"Umika-chan," Sakuya said seriously. "Do you know where Tsukasa-sempai is?"

"Hmm? She's right over here." She replied looking over her shoulder. "Is something wrong?"

"We've been trying to get a hold of her all afternoon." He said relieved, rubbing his forehead. "May I speak to her please?"

"Uhh, sure. Chotto matte." Umika used her hand to cover the receiver. "Sakuya-san needs to talk to you." She told her.

Curious, Tsukasa took the phone from her. "Hello?"

"Sempai where have you been?" He said exhausted. "What happened to your phone?"

"Sorry, I left it on silent all day. What's going on? Is it a Gangler?"

Sakuya was hesitant to say. "Well, not exactly. You see-"

Keiichiro snatched the phone away as he was speaking.

"Tsukasa, there's something we need to ask you about."

"Huh, what is it?"

"Have you…" Keiichiro treaded carefully on his next words. "Have you…been receiving messages recently?"

Tsukasa froze. "What kind of messages?"

At the other end, the four men hovered over Sakuya's phone on the table. Keiichiro put her on speaker. "Messages from…the phantom thieves…"

Tsukasa nearly dropped the phone in shock when he said that. Anger took over shock instantly, and she put the phone back up to her ear. "Noel told you, didn't he?"

"Sumade, but it wasn't his fault." He said looking over at him. Noel looked down remorsefully at the phone. "Tsukasa, how long have you been receiving these messages?"

She bit the inside of her cheek. "For some time now."

"How long?" He asked once more.

She sighed in exasperation. "A few weeks." She confessed. Tsukasa was almost afraid to ask. "Did I…receive another one?"

They all glanced at each other, with Keiichiro speaking up for them. "Yes."

"When? What happened? What does it say?" Tsukasa asked frantically. Off to the side, Umika and Mana became worried with how long and how intense their conversation was becoming.

"This morning, a package was left at your desk. The commander and I found it when we came in, and inside was another note."

"What did it say?" She tried again.

He remained silent on the other end.

"Keiichiro what did it say!?"

He took a deep breath, and read the note to her as calmly as he could. "It says;"

Your time is up.

I'm making do on my part and coming to collect your Treasure

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**So then, what did you think? I really hope my absence didn't deter you from the story. If it did, I'm sorry!**

**Let me know what you guys think and I'll see you all soon!**


	10. The Truth Comes Out

**Don't worry, I wasn't slacking off. Actually, I feel like I was doing more writing this time around. This chapter was actually twice as long before I split it in half. Reluctantly, I had to so there wouldn't be too much confusion in the upcoming chapters. Thank you to everyone who's been leaving reviews so far:**

**-xAmy91x (Thank you so much!)**

**-Guest 362 (It could be, or it could be someone else ;) )**

**-Knoctis00**

**-Toa Solaric**

**-Guest Melody (Thank you! ^-^)**

**-PrettyRecklessLaura**

**-Rubius (I actually based their ages off their real life ages. For all I know, in the show they could be 2-3 years apart. I mean they made Kairi older than Umika even though in real life it's actually the other way around.)**

**Here's Your Warning: I guess if you've already read all the chapters, then there's really no spoilers I can warn you about :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own or work for Toei, I just wrote the story**

* * *

_**The Truth Comes Out**_

* * *

Immediately after, Tsukasa told them she was coming in to take a look at the note for herself. At first they were reluctant to let her do so, but in the end her persistence paid off. Sakuya picked her up in a squad car and dropped off Umika and Mana at Mana's house. When they arrived at the station the first thing she wanted to do was see the note firsthand. At her requests, she asked to look at the note alone.

There in the middle of the table lay the offending message. Unlike the first note, this one was much more aggressive and haunting. Tsukasa stared long and hard at it, striking a nerve within her. It borderline pissed her off, how two sentences could cause both pain and fear. She touched the tip of the bag, rereading it over and over again in her head until the words became too jumbled.

_'Coming to collect your treasure…Your time is up…'_

_'I'm making do on my part…I'm collecting your time…'_

_'Time is your treasure…Your treasure is mine…'_

When she finally had enough, Tsukasa let out a scream of frustration slamming her fists into the table. Her breathing became labored as she tried to control the tears that were begging to be released. On the other side of the door they stood there listening. It was already hard knowing she had been suffering in silence, but it was even harder hearing it aloud. Just when she managed to get her emotions under control, Keiichiro, Sakuya, Noel and Hilltop had reentered the room, wanting to talk to her about the past few weeks.

Tension in the room was thick. Everyone sat around the table with the card in the middle of it all. Sakuya looked back between his two superiors, wondering which one would speak first...and which one would snap.

Keiichiro inhaled deeply, finally breaking the silence. "Why didn't you say anything…?"

Tsukasa sat across from him with her arms crossed over her chest. Her fingers drummed on her grey hoodie. "There was no need to."

"Why? Because you didn't want to cause worry?"

Tsukasa locked gazes with Noel for a moment and she shot him a death glare. He looked into his intertwined fingers. "Because I couldn't be bothered to." She said answering him.

"To what; to say anything or to ask for help?"

"It's none of your business."

"It is my business when it blows up two feet away from my desk!" He growled standing up.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Don't exaggerate, if it was intended to harm you then it would have."

"What's your problem? Why is it so hard for you to ask for help?"

"Because it's _my_ personal business!" She said getting in his face. "If I wanted help then I would have asked for it!"

"Tsukasa-"

"Why are you so nosy? Why don't you use your intuition on more important matters, like your relationship with Mana-san?"

"Yamero!" Sakuya said addressing them.

Both of them sighed in annoyance.

"We shouldn't be wasting our energy on senseless arguing." Sakuya continued. "We have more important matters to attend to, ne?" He picked up the bag holding the card. This wasn't the first time they were at each other's throats, and it sure as hell wouldn't the last, that's for sure. But this, this was too much.

"Sakuya's right." Commander Hilltop agreed. "Rather, we should be getting to the bottom of this. I'll call the forensic department to see if they were able to find any fingerprints. I need someone else to look into our security footage." He looked around the room. "And could someone go and find Jim? We're going to need his help if we want to figure this out."

As their office began to bustle with activity, Tsukasa remained immobile. She glanced over at her workspace, narrowing her eyes in disgust. Tsukasa needed to get out of here. She needed fresh air, a drink…something. While the others were preoccupied with their investigation, she snuck out of the room.

When she made it to the lobby, a voice called out to her.

"Matte Tsukasa-san."

She turned to see Noel coming out of the elevator behind her.

Hesitantly he approached her, offering her a half smile before proceeding to speak. "I'm sorry I told Keiichiro-kun and everyone else about the notes. I...really didn't want to but…"

Tsukasa looked at him stoically. She wanted to hate him. She should hate him, but it didn't really matter anymore. There was no point in lashing out at him or anyone else. Even if he hadn't told them, she knew eventually she would've. It might've been a different story though if it was her treasure.

"It's in the past." She told him. "Besides, now that's one less thing for me to worry about." She smiled reassuringly. "I forgive you."

Relief washed over him. "Merci." He said gratefully. Suddenly Noel remembered something. "I had meant to tell you at the masquerade, well actually, earlier than that, but I did talk to the Lupinrangers about the notes you've been receiving. And as I said before, it's not them who have been sending them to you."

Tsukasa looked at him earnestly. "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Very sure. They actually didn't know about the notes until I brought it up. And, to be honest, I know them well enough to know when they're lying about something like that."

She sighed crossing her arms. "There's something I wanted to ask you."

"Hmm?"

"I was wondering…" She looked unsure of how to say it. "I was wondering if…I could speak to the Lupinrangers face to face."

"The Lupinrangers?"

"Well, more specifically, Lupin Red."

"What for?" As if he didn't know the answer already.

"I was…hoping to ask him about the notes myself."

"You were hoping for a different answer?"

"No, that's not it. Rather, I wanted to see if he could help me."

"With what?"

"I wanted to know if he had any ideas of his own, about who else could be behind this."

"Trying to pick the mind of a thief?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought you were against working with them."

"I-I'm not working with him." She stuttered. "I'm...using him to benefit my needs." She said softly, even though they both knew that wasn't the real reason why she wanted to meet with him.

But, he played along anyway. "That's pretty clever of you." He smirked.

She could only answer with a shrug. "I don't want to be afraid anymore Noel. I want this to be done and over with already. And I know I won't find the answers I need here." She placed her hand over her heart. "And, if asking for help from a phantom thief is the answer then so be it."

"'What are you going to do?"

"I'm not sure." She said looking outside. "I need to take a walk."

"Is that really safe? And at this hour too?"

"Probably not." She laughed. "But don't worry, I'll be okay."

"Are you sure? Maybe I should accompany you?"

"Daijoubu. I'll be fine, I promise." She assured him with a smile. "Will you look after Keiichiro for me? You know how he gets when he has his mind set on something." Tsukasa tucked her hands into her 'New York' hoodie. She and Keiichiro have been stuck together since day one, ever since the academy. They knew each other's weaknesses and strengths, as well as their greatest fears. Well, Tsukasa knew his, hopefully he didn't know about her fear of haunted houses. Their friendship was equivalent to that of siblings, and it showed. And she knew she shouldn't have snapped at him back there, the only reason he was mad was because he cared about her. It reminded her of the time she had to slap some sense into him.

She smirked at the thought before turning back to Noel. "Promise me you won't let him do anything stupid?"

His expression softened, and he matched her smile. "Oui."

Tsukasa wasn't very good at showing affection, unless it was cute and fuzzy, and deserved a place on her bed or against her cheek. She pulled Noel into a hug, appreciative of everything he had been doing for her up until now. He was taken back a little, but moments later he returned the gesture.

While he was saying goodbye to her as she exited the building, someone had been watching them from the shadows. Brown eyes scorned the very sight of them together, and they vowed that soon their very lives would be at their mercy…

* * *

"Naruhodo." Kairi said into his phone.

A few hours had passed since Sakuya took Umika and Mana home. While they tried to relax and enjoy the rest of their night, they were too wound up and worried about Tsukasa. As soon as Mana went upstairs to shower, Umika called Kairi and Touma to let them know what was going on.

"Just stay there for now and play it cool. If any of us receives any information we'll let the other know." Kairi got off the phone with Umika and relayed the message to Touma. "Tsukasa-san just got another note." He told him. "She's with Keii-chan and Noel right now at the station."

Touma kept his stoic expression. "I see. So then, how shall we play this out?"

"There's not really much we can do now." He replied pulling out a chair for him to sit on. "We just have to hope that the police will get a lead some time soon."

"But, are you okay with that?" He leaned against the entrance to the kitchen. "Knowing you, you've got some idea in your head on how to get involved unnecessarily. It'd be a first to see you sit on the sidelines and watch."

Touma wasn't wrong about that. Even before he got off the phone with Umika, Kairi had all these ideas on ways to help her; stake out at the GSPO office, keep an eye on her 24/7, a tracking device (who knows where he would get that from). As ironic as it sounded, it was all he could do to keep his mind off her.

Touma patted his shoulder. "You should sleep on it." He told him. "If she's with Keiichiro and Sakuya, then she's fine. She'll be safe with them."

* * *

Of course, we all know that she wasn't with them anymore.

Tsukasa's phone began to buzz a few minutes after she left. The first time was Keiichiro, the second was Sakuya. Not really caring to talk to either one of them, she let it go to voicemail. She knew eventually though they would have Umika or Mana call her. It probably would be better for her if she just shut her phone off. But what if it was a real emergency? Tsukasa walked on and on for what seemed like hours. She didn't really have a destination in mind; perhaps if she walked far enough she could escape this reality, maybe even to the Gangler's world. When she looked up however, she immediately recognized the neighborhood she had traversed through. She took in her surroundings; not much had changed since the last time. After some thought, she made up her mind where she wanted to go. She passed by the old church at the corner and through an alleyway, one that she was all too familiar with. Turning down another street and two blocks away, she reached her destination.

Slowly Tsukasa walked up the steps to the house. When she reached the door, her finger lingered over the doorbell. '_It's not too late to turn around…_' She thought to herself. _'Maybe this was a bad idea coming here…'_ Before she could think anymore negative thoughts, she pushed the doorbell and waited for an answer. After a few seconds, she heard the lock click, and the door opened to get a better view of her.

"Hmm? Oh…Tsukasa."

Tsukasa looked up at the person, rolling her lips inward in nervousness. It was bad enough that she showed up unannounced, but it was even worse showing up in the middle of the night, with no explanation as to why whatsoever. Even though this person technically a stranger, standing here after so long made _her _feel like one.

"Hisashiburi, ojii-chan..."

* * *

Back at the station, Keiichiro sat at Jim's desk using his computer. When the forensic team and security footage fell short, he decided to do a little investigating of his own. He looked up anything that could connect a Gangler to the notes Tsukasa had been receiving, even going as far back to before they became Patrangers. Keiichiro wanted to take Noel's word, and believe that they were innocent. But the longer he dwelled on it, the more he began to lose hope.

He slammed his palms on the table making the other two jump in surprise. "It's no use." He said aloud. "It really does look like those notes came from the Lupinrangers."

"But then, wouldn't that be a good thing?" Sakuya asked. "I mean if it really is them, then all we have to do is find and ask them why they're harassing Tsukasa-sempai. Right?"

"If only it were that simple." Hilltop replied. "They usually show up whenever there's a Gangler, but, unfortunately for us there hasn't been one in awhile."

"That's true…" He nodded glumly.

Hilltop's desk phone began to ring. "Hilltop here." He answered. "Are you serious?" He asked sounding concerned. "Hai, we'll be down right away." Hilltop turned to his subordinates. "It's Jim; they found him lying in the basement."

Keiichiro and Sakuya stood up right away. "Is he alright?"

"They're checking his system right now; he's in the lab department." Hilltop got up from his desk, followed by the other two.

When they got to the lab, Jim lay on the table motionless. There were three to four wires in his chest cavity all hooked up to different machines that were recording his data, as well as recovering it. One of the robotic technicians came up to address the three men.

"What happened?" Hilltop asked her.

The young woman-whom from her ID badge was named Rika – gave him the run down. "One of the janitors was cleaning up downstairs when he found him under a pile of trash bags. Normally if we were to dispose of machinery we would have labeled it and kept in the scrap room over there." She said directing their attention to a room across the way. "We make sure all of our service staff know and understand this procedure so our technology doesn't get out by mistake."

"Do we have any footage of who could have done this to him?" Keiichiro asked.

Rika shook her head. "His internal memory has been wiped clean from the past 24 hours. The last of his footage was from the masquerade ball."

"Anything specific?" Hilltop questioned.

Rika looked down at her fingers. "Well, I'm not sure if this is important or not, but the last thing he recorded was Officer Myoujin checking in at the sign-in table that night…"

The three of them stood there in alarm. Whoever attacked Jim was their culprit, and any clues that they had to their identity had been erased.

"We're in the process or rebooting him." She went on. "He should be back online soon so you can talk to him yourselves."

"Thank you." Hilltop bowed respectively as she went back to work.

About twenty minutes later, Rika and her team had finished rebooting Jim, and put him in a sitting position. The three men gathered around the table to talk to the robot.

"How are you doing Jim?" Hilltop asked.

Jim groaned, rubbing the side of his red siren. "I believe the term you humans use is, 'like I got hit by a bus.' Or something like that."

They looked at each other grinning.

"Do you remember what happened?" Keiichiro asked.

"It's still blurry. But thankfully my backup drive is wired in a different part of my system, so whoever it was completely missed that." Jim pointed to his metallic hat. "I was feeling useless since I haven't been able to detect any Ganglers recently. To a robot it makes you feel obsolete." He said sadly. "So I went to the research lab to see if there was anything they could do to help me. But while I was in one of the offices, someone short circuited my system knocking me out cold."

"Do you know who it was?" Sakuya asked.

Jim shook his head sadly. His head shot up a second later with a gasp. "Actually, I do remember something…"

"What is it? Any information would help."

"Well, right before I blacked out, I noticed the person's arm when they were leaning over me. They had an ID badge in their hand."

"Who's? Was it someone you recognized?" Keiichiro became eager.

Jim didn't say anything. When the automatic door slid open he made a whimpering noise. Three heads turned toward the door to see who just came in. Whom they assumed to be their culprit left them flabbergasted. But, judging from Jim's reaction, this had to be the person who attacked him.

* * *

_''This is a bad idea.' _He thought to himself. Noel couldn't shake the feeling that Tsukasa really didn't know how much danger she was placing herself in. Sure she was an officer and was skilled in hand to hand combat and grappling, but still he worried for her safety. Giving her a thirty second head start, he began to tail her. He knew that if she ever found out about this she definitely would never forgive him again. He ducked behind a building as she stopped at an intersection.

As he lay in wait, he mulled over her earlier requests; meeting with Lupin Red. Noel was still unsure of what Kairi was planning, and why he had taken a sudden interest in Tsukasa. He assumed Tsukasa wanted to talk to him about the masquerade, but was there more to it? There's no way that they actually had feelings for each other right?

Right...?

His phone started to vibrate.

"Hello?"

"Noel, it's Commander Hilltop. Where are you?"

"Sorry, I went out to try and find Tsukasa-san."

"Hm, and did you find her?"

He looked around the corner of the building to check on her. Tsukasa began to move again, heading south in the direction of a bridge. "No, I didn't find her." He said giving up on his earlier task.

"I see. Don't worry about her for now; I'm sure she'll be alright. There's something else that needs our attention; Jim was attacked at the office."

"Nani? By who? A Gangler?"

"We're not sure. He should be up in a bit, but I need you to come down to the lab department right away."

"Wakata, I'll be right in."

It was minutes after midnight when he got back. As soon as the elevator doors started to open, he sprinted down the hall, acknowledging the security guards as he passed by. Rika and her team noticed him coming in so she held the door open for him.

When he got to the lab, the room fell silent. All eyes were on him.

"Doshita?" He asked looking into their faces.

Keiichiro grabbed him by the collar pushing him up against the wall.

"Noel!" He said getting riled up. "What did you do to Jim?"

"What are you talking about?" He asked confused. "I just got here; I don't even know what's going on."

"Liar!"

"Keiichiro." Hilltop placed a hand on his shoulder. "Let him go."

Begrudgingly he did so, walking across the room to take a breather.

Hilltop turned back to Noel. "Sorry about that." He told him. "And thank you for coming. To fill you in, Jim said when he was attacked, he saw your ID badge in that person's hand."

Noel reacted in surprise. He looked over at Jim who began to whimper again. "I see. Well if that's the case, then the person who attacked Jim-kun couldn't have been me."

"Don't play dumb." Keiichiro growled. "How could it not be you if that was your badge in their hand?"

"Because I haven't seen it in a while. This entire time I've been using a temporary badge that doesn't have access to high alert security areas." He unzipped his jacket and pulled out the badge to show them. "Even getting inside here was all because of Rika-chan. You're more than welcome to ask her yourself."

Keiichiro looked at him skeptically. "What do you mean you haven't seen it in a while?"

"I lost it a few weeks ago. The last time I saw it was when-" His eyes got bigger. "Masaka…" He whispered.

"When?"

"Ah, when…Tsukasa-san started receiving those notes." He stumbled. "But you have to believe me. I would never hurt Jim-kun."

The three of them looked at him unsurely. As easy as it was to blame someone, if they convicted the wrong person it would be even worse.

Keiichiro had his hands on his hips. "I believe you." He said to him. "I don't want to believe you, but I do."

Noel released a breath before turning to his accuser. "Jim-kun?" He asked wanting his approval.

Jim made a small noise. If Jim couldn't believe him then there was no point in hanging around any longer. "I'm not a lie detector." He said. "But I know you wouldn't attack me." He wobbled off the table and made his way toward Noel. "We've become really close these past few months, there's no way it could've been you Noel-san." He said embracing him.

Noel smiled hugging him back. This group really seemed to like hugs for some reason. "Merci." He patted the top of his head.

"Great, now we're back to square one." Keiichiro groaned. "And we wasted an entire night with nothing to show for it."

"Daijoubu sempai." Sakuya told him. "I'm sure after a few hours of rest we'll have our heads cleared. Then we can get back to work."

"I agree." Hilltop chimed in. "For now we'll leave it at that. We'll try again tomorrow bright and early."

The others started shuffling out of the room, but Noel lingered behind momentarily. He didn't want to-no, couldn't tell them_ where_ he lost it. If he told him he lost it at Jurer, Keiichiro and the team would begin to suspect Kairi, and that wouldn't be good for either of them. Instead he opted to investigate his missing ID badge himself. He just hoped that he was wrong about his suspicions…

* * *

**Author's Note: I really don't have much to say about this chapter, except for thank you of course. In case you were wondering, Rika is an OC of mine. I didn't want to have some nameless person talking to them, that's just weird.**

**Is anyone excited for LupinPato VS Kyuranger? The first time I saw the trailer where the Jurer trio became Patrangers I thought that took place after the finale. Like I know the movie takes place before Episode 48, but I thought it was sometime afterwards, like a year or two after the final scene. But after rewatching the trailer there was this one scene in the middle where it looked like the Patrangers were fighting kind of awkwardly. The second movie trailer pretty much confirmed that for me. I hope we see the Patrangers transform into Lupinrangers too, I can imagine Keiichiro getting all irritated for having to do so lol. I thought it was pretty cool when Toei released that VR on YouTube of them doing the Kyutama dance. I'm kind of excited to see them dancing to Que Bom when they have the Ryusoulger VS LupinPato crossover. Hopefully they make one *knocks on woods***

**As always, leave a comment telling me what you think and I'll talk to you guys later!**


	11. My Deepest Fear

**Okay, I know this is like 1 month late, but that's because I scrapped majority of the next part. Like, I looked at it and cringed. Not to mention because it's been some time since I touched this story, I have to get back into it. Maybe I'll make a mood board or something. Anyway, too much babbling.**

**Here's Your Warning: Please reread the story up until now and tell me if it still makes sense :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own or work for Toei, I just wrote the story**

* * *

_**My Deepest Fear**_

* * *

_The next morning…_

Kairi came downstairs to a closed bistro again. He looked around making sure Touma wasn't in sight. With his jacket in hand he snuck out before Touma could catch him. He wasn't really in a talking mood at the moment; he was on a mission today. A few seconds after he left, Touma peeked around the door leading upstairs eyeing the door suspiciously before taking out his phone. "Umika…"

* * *

"I'm sorry for not visiting you sooner." Tsukasa told her grandfather, pouring tea into his cup. "We've just been really busy lately; I've…kind of been working non-stop." She confessed.

_When she showed up at his doorstep last night, he didn't question why. Instead he let her in and offered her a glass of water before turning in for the night. Quietly she made her way up the stairs to shower and headed to her old bedroom._

_Not much had changed since the last time she was here. Similarly there were just as many stuffed animals on her old bed just like her current one. She picked up an old favorite of hers; a baby blue monster with one eye in the middle of its face and two horns on top of its head. Its fur was starting to bald (humorously on its cheeks) and its black claws were fading into a light purple. Tsukasa hugged it to her chest; its voice box was long broken, but she remembered what it used to say, "I love you, my treasured friend." When she was younger she would repeat it back to him before rubbing it vigorously against her cheek. Even after all these years it held that same toothy grin that would comfort her when she was feeling sad. Making room on her bed, she gently nudged some of the stuffed animals out of the way and fell asleep with monster in her arms._

_When she got up in the morning her grandfather had just made tea and laid out manju on the table for them to snack on. He still hadn't asked her why she showed up in the middle of the night, and she was grateful for that._

"We'll leave it at that for now." He told her blowing cool air into his tea. "What I really want to hear about is your personal life. How are things going so far?"

"Eh? Well uh," She picked at the hem of her jacket. "It's alright I guess."

He raised an eyebrow. "You guess?"

Tsukasa became nervous; not that that feeling was anything new to her. Whenever she spoke to her grandfather there was this degree of uncomfortableness she would get. It wasn't because he was abusive or aggressive towards her, but mainly because she always had a hard time opening up to him. Every time they held a conversation it had this unnatural feeling of a cross examination being performed on her. Of course, that being said her grandfather was a police officer for goodness sake; even when he talked with his old buddies that way of speaking would come out.

"I…met this guy." She said quietly. His hearing was still good after all these years; had it been anyone else, they would have missed it.

"Mm hmm…" He said taking a bite into his manju. "And how did you two meet?"

"Umm…we met while I was on the job." She answered truthfully.

"Interesting.".He rubbed his chin "So does that mean that you work with him? Because you know there's a strict rule about fraternizing within the workforce."

Tsukasa thought about all the times they "worked" together; fighting Guiwi, retrieving Laimon's Collection piece, taking down Gauche's experiment, destroying Pecker and his bomb, combining fighters and machines to make Good Cool Kaiser VSX, ridding themselves of Destra once and for all. Does any of that really count as working together?

"We don't work together." She blurted. "We just help each other out from time to time."

"I see." He nodded in understanding. "Well what's he like? Is he a gentleman?"

"Eeto…" Tsukasa thought long and hard about that one. Aside from the past week, there was that time he nearly hit her with a finish attack and instead knocked her out at the amusement park, or that time he screwed up their PatoKaiser combination and kicked her out of the cockpit. Not to mention he hit her in the head with his VS Changer when he was stuck to Keiichiro fighting Magda Pon. Nope, definitely not a gentleman.

"Of course he is. I don't think I would be interested in him if he wasn't." She fibbed.

He sighed, giving her a warm smile. "That's great news. I was wondering when I was going to have great grandchildren."

"Ojii-chan..." She said rolling her eyes.

"What? I'm not getting any younger Tsukasa; I want to see at least one child running through this household other than yourself."

She felt a pang of guilt; Tsukasa was his only kin left alive. And although she would try and make an effort to visit him two to three times a month, Ganglers, or something related to that would get in the way. The life of a police officer.

"So when do I get to meet him?"

The hand that was bringing her teacup to her lips suddenly stopped. "M-Meet him?"

"Well, yeah. How else do you expect me to give you my blessing if I don't meet him?" He asked as a-matter-of-factly.

She put the teacup down, rubbing the back of her neck. "Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves?"

"Tsukasa, it's time you started settling down and starting a family. The longer you put it off the harder it'll be in the future."

She frowned at him. "Did you just call me old?"

"Does it make it you want to have kids sometime soon?"

"Not really."

"Then yes, I did." He replied unabashedly.

"Ojii-chan-"

"Tsukasa, if this young man is as you make him out to be –which honestly I don't know much about but you seem to be infatuated with him- then what's stopping you?"

"A lot of things actually." She said uncomfortably. She knew eventually this conversation would come up, she just hoped it wouldn't be anytime soon. The wound was still fresh, like picking at the crust of a scab that just formed.

"Such as?" He pressed on. "Is he dangerous? Do I need to call for reinforcements because you know I will." He told her. Reinforcements meant he'd call his old police buddies and "rough em' up" a bit. That thought alone made her cringe.

"You really don't need to do that." She mumbled. It's not like they could take him on anyway, let alone find him.

"Then what Tsukasa? What's holding you back from marrying this young man?"

"Ojii-chan he's a-" She stood up but then stopped herself before he could say anything more. Kind of hard to tell your grandfather-who happens to be a retired police officer-that you love a thief.

He counted to ten before speaking. "He's?"

"He's...complex…" She replied sitting back down.

Her grandfather seemed to take in her answer, leaning on his forearms. "How so?"

"Like, there's something going on in his life and he won't tell me what it is." Tsukasa admitted. She had her hands in her lap, pushing the fabric over her palms so only three fingertips peeked out.

"Has he told anyone at all?"

"He's got...a few close friends." She answered thinking about Lupin Blue, Lupin Yellow, and Noel. "He didn't verbally say he told anyone, but I'm sure they must know something."

"And he still hasn't told you yet?"

"No, and that's what's so frustrating." She pushed her cup and saucer away. "He's hiding something from me Ojii-chan, and I want to help him with whatever he's going through. But the more I try to get close to him, the further away I feel from him."

"I get the feeling there's more to your frustration than that?" He theorized.

He wasn't wrong. "I just...maybe we're not meant for each other."

"Why would you say that?"

"We fight a lot; we bicker over petty things, only work together when it's convenient, ojii-chan it's ridiculous!" She whined. Tsukasa crossed her arms and rested her head on them. "It's aggravating…"

He gave her a few seconds to calm down. It was like sitting in an interrogation room with a plausible suspect; remain cool, but push the envelope just a little bit. "Do you...love him?"

"What? No. Of course not...I think? I don't know anymore. I mean how can I be in love with someone who drives me insane? That's not love, that's torture!"

He mentally scolded himself for laughing at her outburst. Tsukasa was definitely in love he noted, and it seems she still has a lot to learn after all these years.

"Have I ever told you how I met your grandmother?"

"Hmm?" She looked up at him. "Well, no actually."

"She was an undercover informant for a drug related case." He explained. "Although not my informant-she was actually an informant to my partner at the time- we did work closely together for a while." He put his teacup down. "Your grandmother helped us with a lot of cases. She was really something." He said smiling to himself. "Eventually, my partner retired, and she began to work directly with me."

"Is that when you realized that you were in love with her?" Tsukasa inquired.

"Honestly, no." He laughed. "That thought didn't cross my mind. That is, until one day..." Her grandfather stood up and walked to the window. "I was told that she wouldn't be working with me anymore. At first I was okay with that. But as the days passed, I realized I missed her presence; her smile, her perfume she wore, the way she would flip her hair..." He sniffled at the memory. "That was when I knew we were meant to be together, for the rest of our lives."

Tsukasa watched him sympathetically.

"So the next day, I found her sitting alone in the break room. I walked up to her and told her I was in love with her. And do you know what she told me?"

"That...she felt the same way?" She guessed.

Her grandfather chuckled. "Actually, it was something along the lines of, 'what took you so long?'"

Tsukasa grinned; that sounded like something her grandmother would say.

"Soon after, we were married. And like all marriages, it had its ups and downs. After she gave birth to your father, she wanted to go back to work. I told her that it was too dangerous; especially since soon after, it was leaked that she had previously worked with the police. I was…scared." He admitted. "I was scared that someone would come after my family, that I would go to work one day and never come back, that one day your grandmother would go undercover without my knowledge and that I would never see her again. I never told her any of that, I should have though; it would have made our lives a whole lot easier." His back was still to her. "Those first few years of marriage were hell for me. The more she pushed for work, the more I pushed away. It was tense whenever I left for work and came back. Finally, we stopped speaking all together. I began to wonder if this marriage was such a good idea, if I had rushed into it too soon." He paused, exhaling deeply before continuing. "But, as I've said before, a marriage has its ups and downs." He turned back to her with a smile. "We were able to meet in the middle, after seeing the situation from each other's point of view."

"How did you and obaa-chan get to talking again?"

"Easy, the entire police force."

"What?!"

"They locked us in one of the interrogation rooms." He explained. "They said unless we come to terms and make our own agreement, we'd be stuck in there all day. That was one of the fondest memories I had working with those guys." He grinned. "Ultimately, I had to face my fears and let her go back to work. But on the upside, it was a desk job down at the station. Slowly, our relationship began to mend itself. It was like falling in love with her all over again. And up until the end, it was marital bliss." Her grandfather sat down next to her at the table. "So you see Tsukasa, no matter how complex a relationship seems, there's always room to grow and learn." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Even though it seems like he's pushing you away, perhaps he has something he wants to protect, or to protect you from."

She contemplated that thought.

"Don't take I personally, I'm sure he has his reasons for doing so. And perhaps one day, he'll tell you what's going on in his life. But for now, just let him know that you're there; your presence itself may put him at ease, maybe from there he'll open up more." He got up and began to clear the table.

Tsukasa thought about that for the rest of the morning. It's not like she didn't have secrets of her own either, so in that sense, then yes, it was understandable.

After a few more awkward conversations, including one about Mother Nature's monthly visits, she bid him goodbye and headed out. Even though the sun was beaming down on her, the post winter breeze never felt so good before. Tsukasa felt lighter, clear-headed to be exact. For once, she was glad someone wanted to talk to her about something other than the notes.

* * *

Kairi found himself standing near the amusement park in Yokohama, staring across at the kayaking house. The last time he was here was when…Tsukasa talked about her childhood, and how similar their stories were. He groaned aloud leaning forward against the railing. He spent the entire morning out and about and came up empty handed. Kairi went out to look into the notes on his own; he knew that if Touma caught him before he left, he would say that it was a little obsessive, or try and talk him out of it. But he couldn't help it; 'he was in love' he would say as an excuse.

He thought about Shouri, and what he would tell him at a time like this. It would probably have to do with something like "chance", and not letting an opportunity like this slip away from him. Pep talks were usually his forte.

It was weird, whenever someone asked them why they do what they do, why they were so determined to retrieve the Lupin Collection he would always say it was to get back their loved ones. He had always imagined that a 'loved one' to be a close friend or family member. He never in his wildest dreams thought that a loved one could be his other half (maybe). Sure, that logic could be applied to Touma who was indeed trying to get his fiancé back, but for Kairi, that just bizarre.

He wasn't naïve, he'd experience crushes and attractions to the opposite gender before, even had girls asking him out or confessing their feelings. But he felt anything like that with Tsukasa. In fact it was more. The attraction to her wasn't on a physical level; Tsukasa was just different than the other women.

A part of him wanted to see her, not as Lupin Red, or hidden behind a mask, but as Kairi; just Kairi. And maybe then, he might just reveal his deepest secret and biggest desire to her that had nothing to do with alter ego Lupin Red.

"Kairi-kun?"

A voice broke through his thoughts. Ask, and you shall receive.

Slowly he turned towards the owner of the voice. Tsukasa hugged her jacket close to her body. She looked at him gently with concern in her eyes, gentle puffs of air visible between her soft lips. In his heart, he knew exactly what he wanted to say to her.

Perhaps...he would get his chance sooner than expected…

* * *

**Author's Note: It's shorter than most of my other chapters, but that's because I really didn't like the direction it was going in. The ending would have been the same, but the build up to it was all over the place.**

**I really liked creating her grandfather's back story. In all honesty I don't know much about police work, so hopefully it's semi accurate as can be.**

**Let me know your thoughts and what you think's gonna happen.**

**Thank you to those who have still stuck with this story and put up with my slow aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas can be self. Like seriously, my biggest challenge is finishing things I've started on (and that applies to everything from projects to fanfiction).**


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